


champion of the cup, victor of the heart

by sapphire_eyes27



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, De-Aged Characters, Fluff and Angst, Ice Magic, Long-Haired Victor Nikiforov, Multi, Parallels to the Show, Slow Build, Triwizard Tournament, Viktor and Chris are cousins, mentions of injury, use of rare elemental magic, yuri on ice/harry potter au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2017-05-18
Packaged: 2018-09-12 09:53:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 41,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9066673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphire_eyes27/pseuds/sapphire_eyes27
Summary: Three champions, two hearts, one victor.Let the Triwizard Tournament begin!





	1. A Bet

**Author's Note:**

> Oh boy! So I thought of this au and then I immediately went to my friend Mari to hc and this baby was born! Special thanks to Nab for helping me with the title and Mari for the blurb!  
> I hope you all like it!  
> (I made a post on [tumblr](http://rolling-blunder.tumblr.com/post/155171097664/champion-of-the-cup-victor-of-the-heart) with some additional info regarding this au. It's basically everyone's ages/houses so you can keep track of them!)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So, apparently we’re hosting the Triwizard Tournament this year.”

Yuuri is freaking out.

He knows he did his Charms homework, and he even took it with him this morning when he left the dormitory. So why is it that he can’t find it now?

“Oh come on, come on, come on,” he whispers to himself as he desperately rifles through his Charms book for the hundredth time, hoping the homework would magically appear this time around.

Suddenly, an arm slings around his neck, and he almost tumbles off the chair he’s sitting in. He groans, already knowing who it is.

Phichit grins from ear to ear as he hugs Yuuri to his side. He doesn’t have his robes on since it’s his free period, but Yuuri is not so lucky.

“Phichit can you please help me look for my Charms homework?” Yuuri asks. Might as well get some use out of the younger boy since he was here.

“Yuuri!” Phichit singsongs. “Forget Charms!”

He takes Yuuri’s books out of his hands despite the multitude of protests that follow. After a moment, Yuuri gives up. He knows Phichit will not stop until he’s said what he’s wanted to.

“Guess what?” He asks and his darks eyes sparkle with all the untold secrets he currently harbors. _The Gretchen Wieners of Hogwarts_ , Yuuri thinks with amusement.

“I really don’t know, Phichit, so can you please just tell me? I’m going to be late for Charms otherwise.”

Phichit sticks his tongue out. “Spoil sport. But fine I’ll just tell you.” He leans in close to Yuuri, one hand covering the side of his mouth as if that’ll help against eavesdroppers.

Phichit’s warm breath fans Yuuri’s cheek as he speaks. “So, apparently we’re hosting the Triwizard Tournament this year.”

He leans back with a smug smile on his face while Yuuri gapes.

No way.

_No way!_

“Phichit,” Yuuri begins after staring at his best friend for a solid minute, “How do you even know that?”

Phichit nonchalantly inspects his nails but the smug smile doesn’t leave his face. “I have my ways.”

Yuuri huffs out a laugh despite himself. “Right. Look I really gotta go now. Professor Yuuko is already going to kill me for not having my homework, but I’d still rather not be late for her class.”

“Just watch Headmistress Minako announce it during dinner today,” Phichit says confidently.

For some reason, Yuuri feels adventurous today. He narrows his eyes. “Wanna bet on it?”

Phichit’s smile turns feral. “Let’s go then. If I’m right, you do my Potions homework for a week. And if you win, I will sneak into the kitchens to make you katsudon for a week.”

Yuuri’s mouth waters at the mention of his favorite food which he hasn’t had in ages. “Deal!”

They shake hands and even Phichit’s grip is full of confidence. His eyes are way too happy, but they also hold a kind of pity, which is directed right at Yuuri.

 _Did I just sell my soul to the devil?_ He thinks but then the hour bell tolls, and he hurriedly gathers his things.

Phichit hands him a rolled piece of parchment.

“You dropped it during breakfast,” he says with a smile.

Yuuri sighs in relief and hugs him tight before running off to class at full speed.

***

When dinnertime rolls around, Yuuri is starving. His day had been so busy with learning new incantations and writing lengthy essays. He’s ready to fill his stomach and pass out in the dormitory (if he even gets that far).

Minami takes his usual spot next to Yuuri and lays his head down on the table. This is very unusual behavior for talkative, boisterous Minami. Yuuri eyes him curiously. Minami looks glum and annoyed.

“What’s wrong, Kenjirou?”

Minami’s frown deepens. “Care of Magical Creatures. That’s what’s wrong. I hate that subject.”

“But Kenjirou, you _love_ that subject,” Yuuri says, “You never stop talking about how interesting it is.”

“Yeah, well now I hate it,” Minami declares petulantly.

Yuuri cracks a smile at his underclassman, which goes unnoticed. “Do you wanna tell me what happened today?”

Minami finally raises his head, and Yuuri counts even that little action a success. “Today we were introduced to hippogriffs. And I love hippogriffs! They’re my favorite, and I’ve read everything there is to read about them. I thought I was totally ready to handle them. But when I—,” his lower lip trembles, “when I approached the creature, it—it completely ignored me.”

Minami’s eyes shine with unshed tears, and Yuuri rubs his arm soothingly. Minami leans into the comforting touch.

“Oh, Kenjirou, things like this take time.” Yuuri thinks back to third year when their professor first introduced them to the hippogriff. Yuuri had been scared out of his mind when he first saw the majestic and gigantic creature.

Their professor had made every student approach the animal and while it only warmed up to a select few, Yuuri was not one of them. It took a good month for the hippogriff to get used to Yuuri (and for Yuuri to get used to the hippogriff). Once it did though, it even let Yuuri ride on its back. It was a terrifying yet exhilarating experience, and one Yuuri could live without going through again. He just wasn’t as great with magical creatures. Dogs were more of Yuuri’s thing.

Minami though, Minami was born to care for magical creatures. He had excelled at that subject from the beginning, and Yuuri knew this event was just a minor setback. He just had to make Minami realize it too.

“You know, the same thing happened to me,” Yuuri says.

Minami’s eyes go as round as bludgers. “No way! But you’re Yuuri Katsuki! You’re amazing at everything you do right off the bat!”

Yuuri laughs at the exaggeration. “That is not true. But seriously, I’m not lying. The professor asked me to approach the hippogriff, and it just completely snubbed me!”

“Really?” Minami breathes, hanging onto every word.

Yuuri nods, “Really. And do you know how long it took me to get close to the hippogriff?”

Minami shakes his head.

"Almost a month!”

His underclassman’s jaw drops. “A month?!” He practically screeches, and everyone in the close vicinity gives them curious glances.

“Yup,” Yuuri confirms, popping the “p”. “And you’re way better at Care of Magical Creatures than me. The hippogriff will warm up to you in no time at all.” He offers a reassuring smile and Minami returns it.

“Besides,” Yuuri continues, “I’m sure it was just shy. After all, it’s not every day the hippogriff meets someone as cool as you. Usually students are wary at best around such a large creature. It probably wasn’t used to being accepted so quickly.”

Minami’s smile turns wobbly as his large brown eyes fill with tears once again but this time for a completely different reason.

“You think I’m cool?”

Yuuri laughs again. “Of course I do, Kenjirou.”

Just then the food appears before them.

“Finally, some food!” Yuuri exclaims to Minami, who clearly matches his enthusiasm. “Let’s dig in!”

Yuuri and Minami pile their plates high with fried chicken, mashed potatoes topped with gravy, and some salad.

Halfway through their meal, Headmistress Minako gets up to stand at the podium, cream colored robes swishing behind her. The golden owl decorating the back of the podium comes to life as it unfurls its long wings, regarding the students left and right before steadfastly looking forward.

“May I have your attention please?” Headmistress Minako’s voice booms all around the Great Hall and everyone stops what’s their doing to listen.

Yuuri has a bad feeling about this for some reason.

"Thank you.” Minako says. “I have fantastic news to present to you all tonight.”

Everyone waits with bated breath, some more so than others.

“This castle will not only be your home this year, but home to some very special guests as well. You see," she pauses, letting the excitement build until it's at the tipping point, "Hogwarts has been chosen to host a legendary event: The Triwizard Tournament!”

Gasps and excited whispers fill the Great Hall. Yuuri’s eyes immediately meet Phichit’s. He looks like a cat who’s just caught the canary. Yuuri groans and smacks his forehead hard against the table. How did he ever think he could win against Phichit?

“Yuuri!” Minami cries out in worry, but Yuuri ignores him.

“Now, now settle down!” Minako says and everyone quiets down almost immediately. “Tomorrow the two other schools participating in his tournament will be arriving: Durmstrang Institute and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic.”

Yuuri’s head snaps back up in shock. _Beauxbatons Academy_ rings in his ears.

He feels a pair of eyes from the staff table bore into his skull but he resolutely avoids them.

“Let us be on our best behavior while we house them for the tournament. Even though this is a competition, we must not forget our values. Compete all you want, but let it be in good faith; let it be healthy. But for now, you may resume your dinner.” She leaves the podium and sits back at the center of the staff table, Yuuko and Mari already engaging her in a conversaion.

Yuuri is so stunned he doesn’t even notice the paper crane that’s just landed right in front of him.

“Yuuri,” Minami shakes his shoulder and pulls him out of his thoughts.

“Hmm?”

Minami points to the paper crane. “Phichit sent that for you.”

Yuuri stares at the folded piece of artwork then at Phichit. He grins triumphantly and waves.

Yuuri glares at him and unfolds the paper crane to read the contents.

            _Brush up on your Potions skills from sixth year. I have a paper due tomorrow on the significance of each ingredient used in the Draught of the Living Dead. :p_

_-P_

Yuuri fists the parchment into a ball and bangs his forehead on the table again. Doing Phichit’s Potions homework for a week is the least of his worries right now because tomorrow _he_ will be coming to Hogwarts.

Yuuri is freaking out. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really excited for this fic! I have great plans for it (I think?) I'm still getting warmed up with writing yoi characters after a long time and I've never written a hp au before (even tho I've thought about thousands lol), so pls be patient with me!  
> Also, I got some of Minako's dialogues from the hp movie because they were good so all credit goes to the script writers!  
> Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? Leave em below or at my [tumblr](http://www.rolling-blunder.tumblr.com)! Kudos are also very much appreciated :3


	2. A Blast from the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He taught Yuuri how to persevere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess here's the second chapter??? I wanted it to be longer but I also really just wanted to post it fast lmao

The night of the announcement of the Triwizard Tournament, Yuuri doesn’t sleep. He successfully avoids his older sister, Mari, and slips unseen into the Gryffindor boys’ dormitory. Hidden behind the scarlet draperies of his four-poster bed, Yuuri surrounds himself with posters and newspapers, articles upon articles on the same person.

Victor Nikiforov grins up at him the same way in all the pictures. His long hair too is tied back in the same fashion. The only difference is that Yuuri can physically see him grow, see the roundness in his cheeks shave away into angled cheekbones and a strong jaw, see a lanky boy transform into a sleek beauty. That’s how long he’s been obsessing over Victor Nikiforov.

He picks up the article highlighting Victor’s fifth consecutive win in the Defense Against the Dark Arts World Championships held a few months prior. He’s confident as he looks into the camera and winks, charming smile never faltering. The crowd around him goes wild and even though this is just mere memory, it still makes Yuuri’s heart beat just a tad faster.

He had been in Sochi, the location of the Championships, that summer. He had convinced his parents to let him go under the supervision of Mari. He had seen Victor from afar, dueling like a madman with silver hair flying like wisps of smoke in the finals, trying to preserve his title of the Ice Prince of Beauxbatons Academy.

 _Ice Prince_.

What a false title if there ever was one.

Victor Nikiforov’s charismatic and free-spirited nature is the opposite of what you would expect of an Ice Prince. Except, he didn’t earn the name because of his personality.

No, he earned it from his ability to conjure rare elemental magic, specifically ice magic.

Since before he even attended Beauxbatons Academy, the limelight had been on Victor. Coming from a famous wizarding family, the attention would have been unavoidable but Victor’s budding magical prowess at the tender of ten only quickened the process.

With such rare magic at Victor’s fingertips (literally), all the wizarding schools wanted to possess him, flaunt him, but Victor chose Beauxbatons Academy as generations of his family had already graduated from there.

Yuuri was in his second year at Hogwarts when he first heard the name Victor Nikiforov. Being a muggle born and a shy kid, it wasn’t until Phichit came into his life that Yuuri started to truly feel like a part of Hogwarts. It was thanks to Phichit that he developed such a fascination towards Victor in the first place.

“Hey, Yuuri, have you heard of this guy?” Phichit had practically shoved Victor’s picture into Yuuri’s face when they were relaxing one rare, free afternoon in the sun. Victor’s hair wasn’t as long back then but he wore it in a ponytail nonetheless for the regional Defense Against the Dark Arts competition. His smile still had the innocence, the bashfulness before he would learn how to properly wield it to please his fans.

“He’s the youngest boy _in history_ to compete for a spot in the DADA World Championships!” Phichit had continued, voice rising and respect growing. “His name is Victor Nikiforov, and they say he has natural control over ice magic!”

“Wow,” Yuuri had whispered, eyes star struck and cheeks flushing.

As a student who loved DADA more than any other subject, Yuuri never was actually good at it. As much as he tired, his talents always lay in Charms.

It was frustrating, beyond so. He was the only student in his year who had gotten the lowest marks on his DADA exam, although he had been one to study the hardest.

But when he saw twelve-year-old Victor and the passion that burned in his eyes, well, that _inspired_ Yuuri. It rekindled the flame in his hopeless heart for the subject, and though he would never quite be at the level Victor was at, he still aspired to be better than he was now.

He studied longer, harder, and with more vigor. He dragged the only other students his age that he got along with, Georgi and Isabella (if her boyfriend, JJ, wasn’t stuck to her side like second skin), to practice with him. They were patient with him and with their help, Yuuri got much better at the subject he truly enjoyed but he was still nowhere he wanted to be.

Victor didn’t win the DADA World Championships when he first competed at the age of twelve, but he did win when he was thirteen, being the youngest ever, and he kept winning after that.

He taught Yuuri how to persevere.

***

 “You have to do the opposite of what people expect,” Yuuri had heard Victor say to the interviewers in Sochi after snagging his fifth consecutive victory. “How else will you surprise them?”

 _What am I even doing here?_ Yuuri had thought to himself then as he admired Victor from afar (always from afar). _There’s no way I can just go up to him._

Mari groaned from beside him. Her eyes were pinched shut, and she ran a hand down her face as if she was suddenly really tired.

“What’s wrong?” He asked his sister because he knew that look.

“Nothing,” she replied much too quickly, pocketing her cellphone. “Just hurry up and meet Victor, so we can go home.”

“Mari, tell me what’s wrong.” Yuuri was known for being stubborn, and Mari knew she couldn’t refuse this boy anything.

“Professor Celestino was at our place today,” Mari said, choosing her words with great care. “He discussed your DADA grades with mom and dad. He wasn’t too pleased. He was saying you should drop that subject this coming year and focus on something else for the N.E.W.T.s.” She chewed her lip anxiously.

Yuuri stared at his reflection in the glass window. He looked…empty. Insides hallowed out and left to rot away. Brown eyes blank behind his glasses but suddenly they were filling, filling with tears.

He looked back at Victor. The crowd around him had thinned considerably. He listened to his headmaster, Yakov Feltsman, with a keen ear, nodding along to whatever he seemed to suggest.

Suddenly, electric blue eyes landed on Yuuri and shook him to the core. He was rooted to the spot, as Victor seized him up. Yuuri himself couldn’t look away even if he wanted to. This was happening. His idol was finally noticing him, and all Yuuri wanted to do was run away and puke all at the same time.

_Pathetic. You don’t even deserve to be in the company of such a great person._

“A commemorative photo?” Victor asked, voice ringing as clear as bells and snapping Yuuri out of his daze. “Sure.” And there it was, that easy, kind smile that tugged at Yuuri’s heart like the strings of a harp.

Yuuri turned around and walked out without a backwards glance.

Well, at least he heeded Victor’s advice and did the opposite of what people would expect.

***

The scarlet curtains around Yuuri’s bed part, and Phichit sticks his head through the gap. Yuuri swears and drops the article he’s holding, breath heaving and heart racing a mile a minute.

“Oh good, you’re still awake,” Phichit says as a way of greeting and sits down across from Yuuri.

“Gods above, Phichit! Don’t scare me like that!” Yuuri hisses quietly so as not to disturb his roommate.

Phichit props his chin on the palm of his hand. “Sorry, did I disturb something?” He eyes rake over the many, _many_ pictures with a sly grin.

“Shut up!” Yuuri retorts but his cheeks betray him. “How did you even get in here? The password was _just_ changed after dinner.”

“Oh Yuuri,” Phichit pats his cheek condescendingly, and Yuuri swats his hand away. “Just get used to the fact that I know everything that happens in this castle.”

“Whatever,” Yuuri huffs and starts packing all the posters and news articles back into his trunk.

“Professor Mari was looking for you,” Phichit says and his dark eyes are serious.

“Yeah, well I didn’t want to see her.” And it’s true. Mari would’ve babied him way too much about this whole thing.

“How are you feeling though?” Phichit crawls to sit next to him and leans back against the headboard.

A humorless laugh escapes Yuuri’s mouth, “Are you asking this because you really want to know or to report back the status of my mental health to Mari tomorrow?”

Phichit hums. “Both.”

“I’m terrified,” Yuuri answers truthfully after a moment of silence. He rests his head on Phichit’s shoulder, glad for his best friend’s support.

Phichit cards a hand through Yuuri’s hair, and Yuuri’s eyes flutter shut. “You’re going to be fine. I’m willing to bet Victor forgot what happened between the two of you. He seems like the person.”

“But I was so rude to him,” Yuuri protests, “I completely ignored him even though he didn’t say anything mean to me. In fact, he was _nice_ to me.”  

“Oh Yuuri, things like this happen!” Phichit assures him. “You were going through a lot at the time with Professor Celestino being an ass and all. I can totally see why you did what you did. Your actions were justified.”

Yuuri groans and buries his head in Phichit’s shoulder. “I still don’t want to see him tomorrow.”

Phichit snorts. “That is the biggest lie and you know it.”

“Nuh-uh!”

“Yeah-huh!”

“Nuh-uh!”

“Yeah-huh!”

“Both of you shut up and let me sleep!” Yuuri’s roommate yells.

The two friends snap their mouths shut for only a moment before dissolving into a fit of giggles.

“Shhh!” Yuuri covers Phichit’s loud mouth with his hand while trying to keep his own laughter under control.

When they’ve both calmed down enough, Yuuri speaks. “Thanks for coming to check up on me. And I guess you are kinda right. I am a _little_ excited to see him tomorrow.”

Phichit smirks but Yuuri continues on quickly, “But that doesn’t mean I’ll show my face to him. This castle is big, and I know a lot of good hiding spots.”

“If you say so,” Phichit chirps, not believing a word that comes out of Yuuri’s mouth.

“Now for the real reason I came to your dorm.” Phichit drops a rolled piece of parchment onto Yuuri’s lap. “It’s the directions to the Potions’ assignment Professor Takeshi gave us.”

Yuuri laments his life choices.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments are always appreciated!  
> [tumblr](http://www.rolling-blunder.tumblr.com)


	3. A Long Awaited Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _He never fails to surprise me_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me the entire time I wrote this chapter, "U G H !"  
> I'm sorry it sucks u.u

“Why aren’t classes cancelled? I mean, we have guests coming today,” Phichit complains at breakfast the next morning. His head sways forward, almost falling into the porridge before he jolts back and straightens himself. His eyes barely stay open though, and he blinks rapidly to keep sleep at bay.

“Because,” Yuuri smacks him on the head with the Potions’ homework, “they won’t be arriving until dinnertime, and our classes finish before then. It makes no sense to cancel them.”

“I swear, you are probably the only student who likes going to class,” Phihcit grumbles and shovels porridge into his mouth. “How did you finish that assignment so fast anyway?”

“Professor Takeshi always has the same assignments lined up year after year,” Yuuri says with a shrug. “I just copied mine from last year.”

Phichit’s eyes bulge out of their sockets from the news. “And you’re telling me this just now? What kind of a friend are you?”

“What?” Yuuri gives me a sideways glance, smirking. “I thought you knew everything that happened in this castle? Or was that all just mindless talk last night?”

“I meant _social gossip_ wise! Please, Yuuri, you have to give me the rest of your Potions assignments!” Phichit begs, clasping his hands under his chin and giving his best puppy dog eyes. His long lashes flutter temptingly, and Yuuri would have been swayed if he hadn’t known Phichit for as long as he did. There was once a time where Phichit’s dark eyes would swallow him whole and only let go until Yuuri had agreed to a specific demand.

But those days are _long_ gone, and Yuuri is a changed man.

He snorts and finishes the rest of his tea. “I’ll give you all my Potions work when you stop gossiping, which will be never.”

“But, Yuuri, I _hate_ that subject! And Professor Takeshi is such a bore!”

“Too bad,” Yuuri says without the faintest bit of remorse. “You’ll have to suffer just like the rest of us. Now come on, we have class to attend.”

Phichit follows, complaining the whole way until they split off.

***

It’s after Yuuri’s first class of the day, Alchemy, that Mari successfully corners him.

“Yuuri!”

He turns to see his sister storming towards him, worry etched into every crease on her face.

Yuuri groans internally, readying himself for the onslaught of sisterly concern that will most definitely follow.  

“I wanted to talk to you last night, but you disappeared,” she says. Her dyed hair is a mess atop her head, strands poking out even from under her plain bandana. The bottom of her black robes are covered in broomstick hairs like always. 

“Oh, uh—I was tired, so I retired to the dormitory early,” Yuuri lies, fixing his glasses unnecessarily and looking away.

Mari lets him get away with the pathetic excuse, and Yuuri’s glad for it.

“Are you ready for today?”

Yuuri nods. “It’s not that big of a deal. I’ll be fine.” He offers her a reassuring smile, and Mari returns it with one of her own.

“I’ll always be here if you need me,” she says, grasping Yuuri’s shoulder in a rock solid grip.

“I know.”

“Alright, I have to go now. First years eagerly await me to teach them how to fly!” Mari grins. “Today we’re learning to do some mid-air somersaults!” She winks, and Yuuri thinks she’s probably more excited about this than the actual first year students.

“Bye, Mari. I’ll see you later!”

“Bye, Yuuri!”

After an affectionate hair ruffle, she leaves.  

***

Yuuri’s day passes by at an alarming speed, and he doesn’t know if that’s a good thing or not.

A part of him is definitely excited to see Victor again, but the majority is just not ready. (Will he ever be ready though?) His stomach is so twisted in knots that he can’t even eat a proper lunch. He goes through the rest of his classes in a daze, only half paying attention and blanking out when his professors ask him questions that he should know the answers to.

As soon as classes end, he escapes to his favorite place on the castle grounds: the Great Lake.

The chilly October air bites at his face and hands and Yuuri regrets leaving the castle with just his robes on. The long sleeves are useless since they’re so baggy, letting the intruding cold air crawl along the length of his exposed arms and raise goose flesh in its path.

But Yuuri will admit it’s his favorite weather. For all he may complain, he actually loves the cold. The numbness helps clear his mind until his thoughts dull to a buzz behind the lapping of the gentle waves.

Yuuri admires the lake as it ripples in the breeze like black silk. It’s a cloudy evening today and the air is shrouded with mystery. He remembers being a first year and taking the boat ride to the castle. The Great Lake was the first part of the Hogwarts grounds he had laid eyes on, and he fell in love with it.

He had hoped that during the cold Scottish winters, the lake would freeze over but during the first year, he realized that was not the case. The body of water just too large. The edges did sometimes succumb to the harsh weather, but he couldn’t skate on crumbling edges. And with the increasing temperatures worldwide, each winter felt warmer than the last.

Yuuri still holds onto the hope that before he graduates, he will be able to skate in the middle of the Great Lake, surrounded by the mountains with the moon and stars keeping him company. Although he’s happy to be chosen to attend Hogwarts, he still misses ice skating sometimes.

He sits on a fallen log and beckons a brown leaf of an elder tree to him. It floats almost lazily until it levitates right in front of Yuuri’s face. He twirls his wand and the leaf mimics the action. He thinks of a spell and transforms the dead leaf into a pink cherry blossom, a reminder of his beloved Hatsetsu. He should go back and visit after he graduates, he thinks. It’s been much too long.

A hand reaches out and plucks the cherry blossom out of midair and startles Yuuri out of his thoughts.

Phichit takes the flower and wears it behind his ear. The pink color compliments the canary gold and black of Phichit’s robes well.

“How do I look?” Phichit asks batting his eyelashes, and Yuuri notices he’s had time to put eye liner on too. His dark eyes look simultaneously innocent and mischievous. Yuuri knows why Phichit’s eyes are his most striking physical feature, and Phichit is not afraid to use them to his advantage.

“Beautiful,” Yuuri answers truthfully. “Is there anyone you’re trying to impress?” He waggles his eyebrows.

Phichit winks, “Maybe. Let’s see what Beauxbatons and Durmstrang have to offer.”

“How did you find me here anyway?”

The younger boy plops himself down next to Yuuri. “You always come here when you’re tense.”

Yuuri hums. It is true.

“You don’t mind if the other’s join us, do you?” Phichit asks nervously. “This is kinda a good spot to witness the arrivals of the two schools.”

Oh. Yuuri had completely forgotten that the foreign schools would enter though the mountain pass.

“No, I don’t mind. In fact, it would be more fun if all of us are here.”

Already he hears his friends approaching.

“Sara, wear something warmer besides your practice clothes!” Michele fusses after his twin. He takes off the jacket he’s wearing and goes to wrap it around Sara’s shoulders.

“Mickey, I’m fine!” Sara rolls her eyes but doesn’t push her brother away, accepting his article of clothing. She’s only wearing her Slytherin jersey with a number 1 on the front and the captain’s band encircling her left bicep. She’s still got her broomstick in her hand, so she must have just finished practice.

Emil walks alongside Michele, trying to calm the older boy down.

Minami, Georgi, Isabella and Leo trail behind the trio. Minami looks so tiny surrounded by his upperclassmen, but he looks completely at ease, conversing with them animatedly.

Phichit waves at them and yells, “Hey, guys!”

Everyone smiles and waves back, “Hey, Phichit! Hey, Yuuri!”

“You guys made it in time,” Yuuri says.

“Yeah, I ended quidditch practice early so I wouldn’t miss the other schools’ arrival,” Sara says, sitting down at Yuuri’s feet. Michele is quick to follow but Emil gives Yuuri a hug before sitting down.

“Are you ok, man?” He asks, and Yuuri wonders how he always knows when someone is feeling down and needs a hug.  

Yuuri gives him his best smile. “I am now.”

Emil grins back, satisfied.

“I bet your team was happy with you for once, you Spartan queen,” Phichit says to Sara.

“If they can’t handle my practices, they can just leave. I don’t need weaklings on my team anyway,” Sara retorts. “I only take the best.”

“’Atta, girl!” Isabella says proudly and they fist bump.

“Slytherins,” Phichit mumbles.

“You say something, puffball?”

“No!”

“That’s what I thought.”

“You guys fight way too much,” Leo observes with a frown.

“Sara knows I’m only kidding though,” Phichit says and Sara agrees.

“I’m so excited to see the other schools!” Minami exclaims. He’s been bouncy since morning, and it certainly hasn’t died down now. Everyone but Michele shares his excitement. Michele frowns and throws some pebbles into the lake. He always falls short though.

“What’s wrong with him now?” Yuuri whispers into Emil’s ear.

“He’s just worried that some guy some the other schools will take Sara away from him,” Emil answers.

“Right, should’ve known,” Yuuri says.

The twins are indeed a mystery. Actually, it’s just Michele. Sara is the normal and sensible of the two.

On Michele’s next throw, Yuuri charms the pebble to go further, and it lands in the lake with a light splash. Michele looks just a little happier.

In the middle of everyone’s conversations (Phichit and Georgi’s on makeup; Isabella, Sara, and Leo’s on music; Emil and Michele on quidditch; and, Yuuri and Minami’s on Minami’s Care of Magical Creatures class), they hear the neighing of horses in the distance. Well, to be precise, it’s Minami who hears it first.

He stops in the middle of his sentence, head perking up.

“Did you hear that?” He asks their group.

As soon as he finishes, something in the sky hurtles towards them from between the mountain pass. As the _thing_ gets closer, Yuuri sees that it’s a dozen pale blue winged horses and they’re pulling a magnificent carriage behind them.

“Oh my God, those are Abraxan horses!” Minami squeals, jumping up and down.

 _Ah, so that’s what those creatures are called. I completely forgot_ , Yuuri thinks.

“Did you know they only drink single malt whiskey?” Minami continues and his eyes get brighter as an idea pops into his head. “I wonder if I can help care for them?”

“That would be cool,” Phichit says. “You should ask.”

“They’re really pretty.” Isabella’s blue eyes are wide with awe. “I wish JJ were here to see them too. If only he hadn’t dropped out of school to play for the Bulgarian quidditch team,” she sighs sadly, “He would’ve even gotten a chance to compete in the Triwizard Tournament.”

“If he got selected,” Michele points out.

“He definitely would’ve!” Isabella defends her boyfriend.

“The carriage isn’t bad either,” Georgi says, effectively changing the subject, and Yuuri has to agree. The carriage is the color of the wings of a blue jay with silver adornments and wheels. He thinks he sees the intricate crest of the school carved onto the sides of it too.

“Leave it to Beauxbatons to arrive in such style.” Sara rolls her eyes. “But I bet it’s filled with French airheads.”

“Sara, that’s a mean thing to say!” Leo chastises. “We don’t even know them yet!”

Sara doesn’t respond because she knows Leo is right.

The Abraxan horses fly to the back of the castle and no sooner are they gone from view that a small boat appears on the surface of the lake.

“What the—,” Michele begins to say, but he’s cut off as the boat raises higher and higher until a massive Viking vessel emerges from the depths of the lake. It titters precariously back and forth, ridding the water from its sails before they unfurl. The Durmstrang crest is a double headed eagle, same as the figurehead, and words circle the two eagles in a language Yuuri doesn’t recognize. The ship docks on the other side of the lake from the group, closer to the castle.

They all take one look at each other’s astonished faces and sprint to the castle.

***

Yuuri has never seen the Great Hall looks so extravagant and… _clean_. The walkway between the four tables is expanded to almost twice its size and the tables themselves are squished off to either side of the hall.

There are more candles than Yuuri can count floating above them. Everything is dowsed in a glimmering, golden glow, and the stars from the Milky Way speckle the ceiling. It’s almost too bright for Yuuri’s unaccustomed eyes.

He and his group of friends sit as far away from the center of the Great Hall as possible.

Headmistress Minako was never one to confine the students seating to their own house, unless there were specific house related activities that were going on. Otherwise, students were free to sit wherever they pleased.

They’re at the Hufflepuff table now, and Yuuri sits with his back to the wall, partially hidden by Emil and Michele’s large frames. He’s planned it this was for a reason. He doesn’t want Victor to even accidentally lay eyes on him during his arrival.

As soon as all the students are seated, Minako stands atop the raised platform to begin her speech. She looks regal in her cream colored robes embroidered with gold thread. There's a delicate gold chain around her neck, and her brown hair is pulled back into a loose bun. Yuuri sees the other professors standing behind Minako but looking no less impressive. Even Mari, who hates dressing up, wears her best robes. Her usual bandana is gone, and she’s also got her hair styled into a loose bun like the Headmistress’.

“Good evening, students!” Minako’s voice reverberates throughout the hall. “As I mentioned to you all yesterday, Hogwarts is hosting the Triwizard Tournament this year. The Triwizard Tournament brings together three schools for a series of magical contests. From each school, a single student is selected to compete.”

Everyone listens with rapt attention.

“I will not lie to you and say these tasks are easy because they are not.” Her eyes are hard. “Trust me when I say this; this tournament is not for the glass hearted. But more on that later. For now, please join me in welcoming our friends from the north: the proud students of Durmstrang Institute and their headmistress, Lady Lilia Baranovskaya.” Minako extends her arm and the doors of the Great Hall burst open.

Everyone gasps as loud chanting fills the hall, and the students from Durmstrang proceed down the middle. Both boys and girls are dressed in dark fur coats inside of which they wear a maroon tunic and brown breeches with black combat boots. They stomp the stone floor with their large staffs that are topped with eagle heads.

“Who’s that guy?” Leo whispers and points to a young boy with messy brown hair and a high blush running across his nose and cheeks. He looks so out of place amongst the rest of his peers. In fact, he flinches every time his staff makes contact with the floor. His round, downturned eyes dart around nervously, and he reminds Yuuri of a cute mouse.

“What’s a guy like _him_ doing at a school like Durmstrang?” Michele wonders aloud for everyone, but no one has the answer.

The procession of students stands facing the entrance of the Great Hall and just when Yuuri thinks they’re done, he hears a loud roar almost like an…engine? No, it can’t be!

He swivels his head back to the entrance just in time to see a Durmstrang student charge down the middle in a cloud of smoke that’s loosely made to resemble nothing other than a motorcycle. The boy’s face is set into a grim mask, dark eyes unsmiling and staring forward. His black hair is styled into an undercut, and he’s the only one who wears a black leather jacket instead of a fur coat. He looks ready to charge into battle like some lord of the underworld, and Yuuri knows that one glare from this guy would petrify him for life. The gray and black smoke curls around the boy, easily supporting his weight as he sits and grasps the front handles of his “ride”. It certainly looks and sounds like a motorcycle, but there’s nothing physically there.

Everyone is stunned.

The guy stops before one of his younger peers, another boy with the thickest eyebrows Yuuri has ever seen. Next to Yuuri, Phichit goes rigid. The second boy’s face too is hard and emotionless (is it some kind of intimidation tactic?) as he kneels on one knee and pulls out his wand. He blows at the tip and a great fire erupts, taking the shape of a giant eagle. Everyone watches in absolute horror as the fiery eagle engulfs the guy still surrounded by the gray smoke in its maw.

There’s a beat of silence and the fire evaporates.

The boy with the undercut is still standing there, completely unscathed. The smoke around him has disappeared along with the sound of the roaring engine. It’s like it had never been there.

The hall bursts into cheers at the spectacular display as Lady Lilia makes her way to Minako.

Lilia too has the trademark Durmstrange expression (or specifically lack thereof). She’s middle aged with a gaunt face and sharp green eyes, like cut glass. She’s wearing garish golden robes with a fur trimmed collar. Her dark brown hair is tied into a tight bun that it makes Yuuri’s head hurt by just _looking_ at it.

Minako and Lilia shake hands and hug, exchanging a few words of greeting in between. Lilia seats herself at the staff table while the rest of her students sit at the Slytherin table.

Minako raises her hands and everyone quiets down.

“And now, let me introduce you to the lovely students of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and their headmaster, Sir Yakov Feltsman!”

Yuuri shrinks in his seat, and Phichit wraps a comforting arm around him as the students from Beauxbatons enter. The boys wear a cornflower blue blazer with gray slacks while the girls wear a full sleeved shin length dress and a short cape of the same blue color. While the boys wear berets, the girls wear pointy hats tilted to the side. _They all look more like supermodels than students_ , Yuuri thinks as he takes in their stylish attire and immaculate hair.

The air suddenly smells sweeter. Yuuri can’t exactly place it, but it smells like home, like Hatsetsu. He wonders if it smells the same to each student?

If the students of Durmstrang were emotionless and edgy, the students of Beauxbatons are the complete opposite. They’re the picture of grace as the boys lead the girls into an intricate pas de deux, never once colliding with each other. Their footwork is so amazing that it looks like they’re floating.

Their faces are alit with joy except for one particular boy whose blond hair is braided back. His face is set into a defiant scowl which is oddly out of character to the dance he’s leading a red headed girl in. His turn out though, Yuuri notes, is spectacular.

When the dancers finally reach the front, the boys clasp the girls’ waists and the girls pirouette once, twice, thrice before they go into an arabesque. Blue butterflies burst from the tips of their fingers, fluttering around the students before flying up into the ceiling and disappearing.

Yuuri sees all the Beauxbatons students lined up but Victor is not there. He doesn’t know how to feel. He never really considered the option that Victor wouldn’t come. His heart is heavier and lighter all at once, but before he can even name this feeling, the temperature in the Great Hall drops and a shiver runs up Yuuri’s spine. The floor beneath them turns to hard ice and everyone exclaims.

Yuuri nearly faints when he sees Victor Nikiforov standing by the double doors. His long silvery hair is tied back in a ponytail but a few short strands still fall around his face, softening the sharper angles of his cheekbones and jaw. He’s wearing an outfit of blue feathers lined with gems that fall across his torso and a few even onto his black tights. His right arm is covered to the wrist while his left has sheer cloth with more black gems zigzagging along its length. His entire outfit sparkles. _He_ sparkles.

On Victor’s feet are ice skates with golden blades, and Yuuri’s heart nearly stops. He’s not really going to do what Yuuri thinks he is, right?

Oh, but he does.

With a dazzling smile directed at his audience, he whirls into motion. The skates scratch across the ice floor, and it’s a sound Yuuri hasn’t heard in so long. Victor is a blur of blue and black as he performs his elaborate step sequence, twirling and gliding like he was born on the ice. His arms mimic the movements of a bird and Yuuri thinks, _Oh, he’s like a swan_. Yuuri’s mind is devoid of any other thought as he watches Victor skate, and there’s still that same passion that he saw in twelve-year-old Victor competing in the DADA World Championships for the first time.

There’s no music but it’s not needed because Victor is the one making music with his body. He’s absolutely enchanting, and he’s got not only Yuuri but everyone else in the Great Hall under his spell too.

Yuuri wishes the hall would stretch on forever because all too soon, the end approaches. But suddenly Victor spins around, arms extended. He digs the toe pick of his right skate into the ice, and launches himself into the air. Time seems to slow down as he spins before Yuuri’s eyes. He doesn’t think Victor will ever touch ground again. Like the swan he is personifying, Victor will fly off because there is no way he belongs on this earth amongst mortal humans such as Yuuri. Surprisingly though, he does. Victor lands perfectly back on one foot with a resounding crack and a self-satisfied grin.

 _A quad flip._ Yuuri cannot find the right words to describe his idol, who’s more like a god to him now. He thought he knew everything there was to know about Victor, but he was wrong. _He never fails to surprise me_.

Victor stops at the front, and he’s barely broken a sweat. Even his long hair is still impeccable after all the spinning. His arms are spread wide on either side of him as he stares up at the ceiling an everyone follows suit.

It’s snowing. Victor made it snow.

As the flakes descend faster and faster, Yuuri realizes it’s not snow at all. Everyone raises their hand to catch the falling object, Yuuri included.

His hand closes around something cold and when he opens his palm, he’s staring at a beautiful cherry blossom enclosed in ice. The ice delicately curves around the blossom’s petals and when Yuuri turns it just right, it refracts the light into million different colors. And even though it’s hard as rock and doesn’t seem to be melting from the warmth of Yuuri’s hand, he knows this is ice.

The more Yuuri looks at the bauble in his hands, the more it feels like a memory from a dream. He holds it close to his chest as many more continue to fall. Other students around him, including Phichit, collect more but he’s content with just this one. Yuuri looks up at Victor, and he’s got the proudest and happiest smile on his face. He can’t help but want him to smile like that all time because Victor has never smiled like that in any of his pictures.

If everyone cheered loudly for Durmstrang, they break the decibel scale when they cheer for Beauxbatons. People clap and whistle, hoot and shriek like they’re possessed.

Amidst all the cheering, Minako and Yakov—a stern, balding man that fits in with the image of Beauxbatons about as much as a black pot fits in with fine china—greet each other, Yakov kissing the back of Minako’s hand. Minako leads him to the staff table and the students of Beauxbatons seat themselves at the Ravenclaw table, which luckily for Yuuri is still far enough away.

Victor sits flanked by the scowling blond boy and his cheerful red head. He’s facing Yuuri’s direction and although they are at a diagonal angle, Victor would still be able to spot Yuuri if he looked just a little to his left. He’ll have to make sure Emil and Michele cover his face at all times.

Minako stands back at the front.

“Silence!” Her voice is louder than usual to hush all the commotion and it seems to work. “Let us thank our fellow friends for their spectacular performances.” Applause breaks out. “And now, let us feast!”  

The tables fill with food as soon as the words leave Minako’s mouth. There is so much variety that students have trouble choosing what they want to eat. It’s more food than Yuuri has ever seen before and he notes there’s even some Japanese dishes too, but he’s in no mood to eat. If there was katsudon, he might have reconsidered.

Regardless, Phichit and Emil fill his plate with steak, onigiri and snow peas. They force him to eat and with each bite Yuuri feels like he’s chewing saw dust. Nothing settles in his stomach.

“I wonder who that red head sitting next to Victor Nikiforov is,” Sara says quietly enough so Michele can’t hear. Yuuri’s eyes immediately drift back to the Ravenclaw table.

The girl is definitely pretty with a contagious smile (although it still hasn’t rubbed off on the blond haired kid) and eyes so blue that even from this distance Yuuri can easily compare them to sapphires.

“What? I thought you said all Beauxbatons were French airheads,” Phichit teases her. Sara sticks out her tongue but doesn’t respond.

Yuuri’s eyes don’t stay rooted to the red head for long before they flit over to Victor (always Victor).

He’s also eating steak, laughing in between at something a two toned blond in front of him probably said. He looks like he gets along with everyone, and Yuuri isn’t surprised. He’s always had a magnetic personality, slowly drawing in even the stubbornest of people until they’re attracted to him with a such a strong force that they can’t pull away.

Then to Yuuri’s utter horror, Victor stops laughing and looks straight at him.

Yuuri squeaks and ducks so fast that he hits his head on the edge of the table, glasses nearly falling off.

“Yuuri!” Everyone exclaims worriedly, but the pain doesn’t even register.

His heart is thumping wildly like a jackrabbit trying to escape from his cage and the air has gone thin. He can’t seem to take in enough oxygen. He notes vaguely that the ice blanketing the floor is gone.

For the rest of dinner, Yuuri doesn’t raise his head no matter how much his friends press him to eat.

When the tables are cleared of all the food, Minako stands on the platform again. Behind her, Professor Takeshi wheels in what looks like an elaborate gold and bronze tower, way taller than himself. Between the tangled metalwork, there are holes, concealing the true object.

“Your attention please,” she says, hand on the tower. “I’d like to say a few words regarding the tournament.” She pauses and everyone is hanging onto her every word.

“Eternal glory. That is what awaits the student who wins the Triwizard Tournament and survives the three _extremely_ dangerous tasks. For this reason, there’s a rule that no student under the age of seventeen is allowed to put forth their name to compete.”

“Well, that’s not fair,” Sara frowns.

“Even if you were allowed to, I wouldn’t let you Sara,” Michele interjects. “Didn’t you hear Minako? She said they are three _extremely dangerous_ tasks.”

“Oh, shut up, Mickey.”

Emil pats the dejected Michele’s back in sympathy.  

Minako points her wand to the tower and it melts away into the floor until an old and weathered goblet remains. A bright blue fire ignites at the top.

“This is the Goblet of Fire,” Minako continues, completely unaffected by the flames that are close enough to lick her face. If you wish to enter the tournament, simply write down your name on a piece of parchment and drop it in the flames before the end of this week at this hour.” Her eyes narrow and it’s like she’s inspecting each student individually. “Do not take this as a joke. If chosen, you must compete. As of this moment, the Triwizard Tournament has begun!” She claps her hands once and the Great Hall is once again buzzing with conversation as everyone stands to make their way back to their dormitories.

Yuuri doesn’t wait for his friends as they dawdle. With an excuse of needing a breath of fresh air, he slips out of the hall, and if he feels a pair of eyes boring into the back of head, well, he just ignores them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know nothing about ballet or figure skating, and I bet that shows in my writing :')  
> It's so much harder to describe stuff in this au ahh! Everything is better in my head. But I hope by now you know which school each character is in! If you have any questions or want to know why I placed them there, hmu!  
> Comments? Criticisms? Suggestions? Kudos? Leave them ALL  
> [tumblr](http://www.rolling-blunder.tumblr.com)


	4. A Proposition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’ll train you in the Defense Against the Dark Arts.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the 100+ kudos <3  
> This is pretty much a filler chapter with all the introductions.  
> *finger guns* Enjoy!

Yuuri doesn’t know how long he stays by the lake.

He wishes it wasn’t so cold because he could really go for a swim right about now. Instead, he settles for rolling up his jeans and submerging his naked feet into the cool water. He stands there for minutes? Hours? He doesn’t know.   

He realizes that avoiding Victor will be harder than he had initially imagined. He can’t just pretend they didn’t make the brief eye contact during dinner tonight. He just really hopes Victor has a bad memory can’t relate Yuuri’s face to the incident that happened in Sochi.

He hangs his head in his hands, “I am such an idiot!”

When his feet grow wrinkly and numb, Yuuri finally decides to call it a night and slip back into the castle.

The only way he can get back inside without being seen is by using the back entrance. He skirts around the edges of the castle and makes sure his coast is clear before he makes a run for the back door.

_Thud!_

Yuuri falls flat on the ground, and the stars twinkle up at him. He rubs the back of head, groaning from the throbbing that has now started. He’s going to need to ice that. _Maybe I can go to Victor_ , he thinks jokingly.

He sits up gingerly to see who’s he’s collided with. The head of wild honey blond hair turns towards him.

"Kenjirou?” Yuuri exclaims, looking to Minami’s teary eyes. “What are you doing out right now?”

“Yuuri!” Minami ignores Yuuri’s question and hurriedly crawls towards him to make sure he’s alright. “I’m so sorry! Are you ok?”

“I’m fine,” Yuuri says as he stands to his feet. The world doesn’t spin, which is a good sign. He offers Minami his hand and the younger boy takes it. Yuuri pulls Minami to his feet and repeats his previous question.

Under the moonlight, Yuuri can make out the light flushing of Minami’s cheeks. He pulls at the strands of his hair. “I—uh—I wanted to see the Abraxan horses, so I snuck out to the stables after dinner.”

Yuuri laughs because that is something Minami would definitely do. “Of course you did. How were they?”

A dreamy look overtakes his face. “Oh, Yuuri, they were so beautiful! I’ve never such majestic creatures before in my life! They’re huge—way bigger than normal horses—and one of them has the curliest mane I have ever seen—.”

Yuuri clamps a hand over Minami’s mouth when he thinks he hears something. He puts a finger to his lips and Minami gets the message. When nothing jumps out at them, Yuuri deems it safe to release Minami.

He tugs the sleeve of Minami’s robes, “Come on, let’s quietly sneak back into the common room. You can tell me the rest in there. If Celestino catches us, he’ll not only dock points from Gryffindor but also give us detention.”

Minami looks at Yuuri like he had hung the moon.

They make it back to the common room without a hitch. Luckily for them, Celestino probably went to bed early, otherwise they would have definitely encountered him as he patrolled the halls late into the night like a watch dog.

Yuuri expects the common room to be mostly empty at this hour but when he enters through the portrait hole, the area is a flurry of commotion.

All eyes land on him when he his feet touches the soft carpet, and Phichit (of course Phichit is there, and he snuck in the rest of their group of friends too) runs up to Yuuri, expression incredulous. Everyone else does the same with faces mirroring Phichit’s, and Minami hides behind Yuuri from the sudden onslaught. They are crowded against the wall, and Yuuri can barely breathe.

“Yuuri!” Phichit practically screams and aside from the shock there’s also a hint of hurt and anger in his eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me Victor knew you!”

The neurons in his brain take a little longer to process the information than normal. Everyone waits with bated breath.

“Huh?”

Sara pushes Phichit away and shakes Yuuri by the shoulders. “Yuuri, now is not the time to act stupid! How does Victor Nikiforov know you? How did you two meet?”

Yuuri flounders and his glasses slip down the bridge of his nose, “Bu—but he doesn’t know me! I don’t know what you guys are all talking about!”

“Yuuri,” Leo says, and he’s the calmest one out of everyone, “Victor is literally on your bed.”

Yuuri’s eyes widen to the size of galleons. “Huh?”

He weaves past people and runs up to the boys’ dormitory, taking the steps two at a time. Everyone follows him eagerly to witness the scene. When he bursts into his shared room, his heart nearly stops.

There, on his bed, lies Victor Nikiforov on his side reading a magazine. He’s wearing a green robe, that exposes the lean line of his torso, with matching half-pants. His silver hair spills behind his back and over his shoulder. Even in the heat of the room, his nose still dusted with pink. It looks annoyingly endearing.

Victor looks up as soon as Yuuri enters, and his blue eyes blaze brighter. He sits up on the bed and the robe slips down, exposing his left shoulder. He doesn’t even bother to fix it. Yuuri’s mouth hangs wide open, and he knows he’s being rude by staring so blatantly, but how can he not?

“Yuuri!” Victor trills as a greeting. Despite going to a French wizarding school, Victor still hasn’t lost his Russian accent. Hearing him say Yuuri’s name in such a way does funny things to Yuuri’s heart.

Behind Yuuri, everyone gathers to watch. Without even thinking twice about his actions, he waves his wand and closes the door on everyone’s bewildered faces. He puts an Imperturbable Charm on the door to ward off any eavesdroppers as an extra precaution.

Yuuri turns back around and Victor is still staring at him with a small smile playing at his delicate lips. Thankfully, he’s covered his shoulder.

“I see someone wants a little privacy,” he has the audacity to wink, and Yuuri feels his face heat up much too quickly. If he were to look into a mirror right now, he’d probably be the same color as his bedpost drapes.

“Why are you here?” Yuuri blurts out. When the happiness on Victor’s face cracks just a tiny bit, does Yuuri realize he should have worded that less harshly. Why is he always so mean to this boy?

“Don’t you know who I am, Yuuri?” Victor asks with a tilt of his head.

“Of course, I know who you are,” Yuuri says like he wants to pull his hair out, “The entire wizarding world knows who you are. You’re Victor Nikiforov, five-time consecutive winner of the DADA World Championships with a natural and rare ability to wield elemental ice magic!”

Victor looks at Yuuri like he’s trying to decipher something. His blue eyes are swirling with an emotion Yuuri can’t quite put a finger on, but Yuuri wants the floor to open up and swallow him whole. There’s embarrassment pooling at the bottom of his stomach because he’s literally just screamed his idol’s accomplishments back at him.

“Oh.” That’s all Victor says.

Then, like a one-eighty, his demeanor completely changes and he’s back to his usual bubbly self.

“That’s me, Victor Nikiforov, and I am your new roommate,” he announces and proudly points to the stacks of blue trunks with the Beauxbatons Academy crest on them. They’re piled high at the corner of their shared room and Yuuri wonders how he didn’t notice them coming in. Victor gives him a blinding smile. _Oh, right. That’s why._

This is actually happening. Victor Nikiforov is his roommate for the remainder of his stay at Hogwarts. Yuuri’s wand slips out of his hand in shock.

Great, not only is a total jerk to Victor, but now he’s a total _clumsy_ jerk to Victor.

He drops down to his knees to pick up his wand and hopes the blush on his face isn’t too noticeable.

All of a sudden, there are fingers touching his, circling around his hand and the wand. The fingers are cool against Yuuri’s heated skin and a pleasant shudder works its way through Yuuri’s body. He looks up and wow, Victor is so close.

Unlike the coolness of his hands, Victor’s eyes smolder, _burn_ Yuuri’s insides red hot until he feels like he’s melting. He remembers a little too late that Victor is actually one-eighth veela with the powers of seduction naturally at his disposal. He doesn’t dare breathe when Victor gently tilts his chin higher and looms over him.

“Yuuri,” he whispers and his breath blows across Yuuri’s face like a crisp autumn wind. “Since we’ll be sharing a room together, let’s get to know each other better.” Yuuri’s eyes almost cross over his glasses as Victor presses even closer, the front of his robe slipping and exposing more of his chest. “Tell me everything about you. Where are you from?” A chin caress. “What’s your favorite food?” A hand caress. “Do you have a girlfriend?”

Yuuri snaps out of his daze at the last question and finally their compromising position registers in his head. Thank God he’s locked the door because he would not know how to explain to everyone why _Victor Nikiforov_ is practically on top of him.

He scrambles back on all fours, heart hammering away and face seconds from exploding and spraying blood everywhere.

Victor frowns, confused by Yuuri’s quick retreat. “Why are you running away?”

 _I just rejected him again!_ Yuuri is freaking out internally. This just keeps getting worse and worse. _But how can he suddenly do all these things when we’ve just met? Does he honestly expect me to act the same?_

“Uh, no—no reason,” Yuuri stutters and forces out a laugh to diffuse the tension. “And uh, actually I’m not your only roommate. There’s another person who stays in this room. His name is Kenjirou Minami.” Yuuri hopes Victor won’t act the same way with poor, little Minami.

Victor surprisingly perks at that. “Oh? Where is he? I want to meet him!”

“He’s outside.”

He stands up and thinks it’s probably time to open the door. With a flick of his wand, the door swings open and his group of friend tumble into the room as if they had their ears glued to the door.

Phichit is the first to recover. He bounces to his feet and sticks his hand out to Victor.

“Hi, I’m Phichit Chulanont, Yuuri’s best friend.”

Victor shakes his hand with a smile, “Hi, Phichit! I’m Victor Nikiforov.”

“Yeah, I know!” Phichit exclaims. “Can I have your autograph?” He thrusts a sheet of parchment and a quill at Victor.

“Phichit!” Yuuri hisses in embarrassment, but the younger boy ignores him.

Victor’s little laugh is like a babbling brook in a sunny meadow. “It’s ok, Yuuri.” He takes the parchment and quill and signs his name before handing it back to Phichit.

Yuuri thinks he hears Phichit whisper, “This is going to sell for hundreds of galleons!”

Victor meanwhile is too busy with introductions to notice or care.

He greets everyone with the same warm smile and handshake, and it’s just so easy to imagine Victor as a part of Yuuri’s friend circle too. He just… _fits_ , like a glove.

“Is this your real hair?” Isabella asks, touching the silky strands with wonder.

Victor nods, “Yup!”

Everyone else also touches his long, beautiful hair, but Victor doesn’t swat them away. He lets everyone do as they please.

When Phichit is touching Victor’s, his eyes suddenly widen and Yuuri can almost see the light bulb go off on top of his head. He knows what Phichit is thinking immediately.

“Don’t you even dare think about cutting a lock of Victor’s hair to sell!” Yuuri threatens in Phichit’s ear.

Phichit looks away guiltily and mumbles a “fine”.  

Yuuri then notices that Minami is the only one missing from their group. When he looks back at the door, Minami sticks his head in, biting his lower lip nervously. He’s jittery with nerves.

“Oh, Kenjirou, there you are!” Yuuri pulls him into the room and Minami squeaks, hiding behind Yuuri.

Yuuri calls for Victor’s attention, “Victor, this is our other roommate, Kenjirou Minami.” Yuuri steps aside so Victor can get a better look at Minami.

“Hello, Kenjirou, I’m—,”

“Victor Nikiforov,” Minami interrupts Victor breathily.

Victor laughs, completely unaffected. “Yes. Thank you for allowing me to share this room with you.”

Victor takes Minami’s hand in both of his and offers his trademark smile.

Minami takes one look at their clasped hands and the smile and promptly faints.

"Oh my God, Kenjirou!”

 _Damn, those veela looks!_  

***

After taking care of a mortified Minami and shooing everyone out of their room, Yuuri gets ready for bed.

He didn’t think he would be able to sleep with Victor sleeping on the bed right next to his, but the day’s events are catching up to him and his eyes feel heavier by the minute. He’s getting ready to pull his curtains for some much needed privacy when Victor prances back into the room from the lavatory.

When Yuuri sees him, he hurriedly goes to close his curtains to avoid any more conversation. After everyone’s departure it had gotten awkward really between them. Well, it was Yuuri who was the awkward one. Victor, as usual, was fine.

Sadly, though, Yuuri isn’t fast enough.

Victor yanks the curtains back, eyes crinkling as he smiles. “Yuuri, let’s sleep together!”  

Yuuri cannot believe this boy. He thought he knew Victor, but he doesn’t know him at all. Is he really _the_ Victor Nikiforov? How can such an upstanding member of the wizarding society say such things so casually?

“Victor, we’re sharing a _room_ not a _bed_!” Yuuri wrestles the curtains from Victor’s hands. “You’re sleeping over there.” He points to the bed on his left.

Victor pouts, and how can that make him look even cuter? “But what if I have nightmares?”

Yuuri sighs and can’t believe he’s about to do this. He reaches under his bed and pulls out his brown stuffed poodle. He gives it to Victor.

“This is Vicchan Junior. He helps me whenever I have nightmares,” Yuuri explains, “I had him made after my poodle Vicchan passed away a few years ago.” Victor stares at him in wonder, and Yuuri continues, “You can use him whenever you want, just please take good care of him.” _He means a lot to me_.

Victor’s eyes sparkle as he holds the toy poodle close to his chest, like it’s the most precious thing in the world. “I promise! Thank you, Yuuri!”

And Yuuri finally feels like he’s done something right.

When he lies down to sleep, his heart is pounding. _Oh, I’m happy._

***

“Yuuri.”

Yuuri groans and curls furthers into his blankets. He’s having such a nice dream. He’s ice skating on the Great Lake and there’s someone else with him…someone with long, silver hair…

“Yuuri!”

The voice is louder this time and the hands are grabby and forceful as they pull away his blankets. The cold air hits his arms and Yuuri shivers violently, crying out.

"Give those back!” He gropes blindly for the warm covers.

“No, you have to wake up!”

This person is really starting to get on his nerves.

“Honestly, Yuuri, even Kenjirou isn’t this bad. Now, wake up!”

The person smacks Yuuri in the face with a pillow and that definitely wakes him up.

Phichit hovers over him. He’s already dressed, robes looking cleaner than Yuuri’s ever seen them and even his shirt is ironed.

“If you’re late for class, Professor Celestino will have your head,” Phichit informs him getting off the bed and straightening his robes.

Yuuri rubs the sleep out of his eyes and his fingers come away with crust on them. Gross.

He can’t believe he overslept. This has never happened to him before. And it had to be today of all days too where his first class is DADA.

He sits up and the events of last night flood his mind. His head swivels to the left, so fast that he almost pulls a muscle.

Victor is nowhere to be seen and his bed is made like it had never been slept in. Yuuri panics. Did he just dream all that up?

Phichit notices Yuuri’s alarmed face and reassures his friend. “Don’t worry, Victor’s still here. His friends from Beauxbatons came and took him away. I just saw him during breakfast. He said he didn’t have the heart to wake you up since you looked so peaceful.”

Phichit smirks then. “So, Yuuri, did something happen between you two? Victor looked really happy this morning, but he wouldn’t tell me anything.” He pouts.

Yuuri ignores the questions and flings aside his blankets before putting on his glasses and grabbing his clothes for the day. “Didn’t you say I was getting late for class? I don’t have time for this.”

Phichit clicks his tongue in annoyance. “And this is the thanks I get for saving your ass.”

“Thank you, Phichit.” Yuuri blows his best friend a kiss.

Phichit rolls his eyes, “Yeah, yeah, just get changed and here.” He tosses Yuuri a large blueberry muffin. “Since, you missed breakfast.”

“You’re the best.”

“I know. No one deserves me.”

***

Yuuri makes it to class in the nick of time.

“That’s cutting it close,” Georgi says when Yuuri sits down next to him.

“Uh, yeah, sorry I overslept.”

Professor Celestino glares at him but doesn’t say anything.

“Today,” he begins, “We will be dueling, so partner up!”

When everyone has found their partner, Celestino moves all the tables and chairs at the end of the room. Students line up on either side of the open space and face their dueling partner. Yuuri is nervous as he faces Georgi because even if Georgi isn’t the best in their year at DADA, he’s still leagues better than Yuuri.

“During this duel, you will not utter a single word,” Celestino continues, “We are going to continue practicing nonverbal spells. You may use any you have learned thus far, except for the Unforgivable Curses of course.”

He goes to stand at the front of the classroom. “Bow to your partners.” Everyone does. “Wands at the ready.” Everyone raises their wands. Yuuri takes a deep breath. He’s going to be fine. He just needs to focus. “Begin!”

Before the last syllable even leaves Celestino’s mouth, ropes shoot out of Georgi’s wand and wrap around Yuuri, tightening the more Yuuri struggles to get out of them. He falls in a graceless heap, wiggling on the floor like a worm, until finally he cuts them off. He stands back up and goes to disarm Georgi, but he dodges it easily.

They go back and forth like that, and Yuuri feels the mental stress build up as they continue. He’s alright with nonverbal spells for the most part, but it’s a completely different matter when you’re trying to defend yourself _and_ attack at the same time.

When Celestino tells them to stop, Yuuri’s breathing is shallow and his hair is matted to his face. He’s covered in bruises and small cuts, but he’s glad to see he got some on Georgi too.

“Alright, good. Now—.”

The door bursts open and no one other than Victor walks in with a pleasant smile on his face. His hair is tied back into his signature ponytail, and he looks sharp in his cornflower blue Beauxbatons uniform. Celestino’s eyes bug out of his head, and Yuuri would have found it funny if he wasn’t mirroring the expression. He tries to melt into the wall, but Victor still sees him and offers a small wave.

“Hello, Professor Celestino,” Victor greets him. “Sorry to interrupt you, but I just got my class schedule from Headmistress Minako.” He hands Celestino a piece of parchment. “I’m in your class.”

Apparently, Yuuri isn’t the only one who thinks Victor is joking. The entire class’, including Celestino’s, jaws drop.

“You want to take Defense Against the Dark Arts?” Celestino asks in disbelief.

Victor nods with the same, easy smile.

Celestino snaps out of his incredulity. “Ok, then. We were just practicing nonverbal spells. Choose whoever you wish to duel with.”

No sooner does Celestino give him the green light, does Victor make a beeline for Yuuri.

“Yuuri, let’s partner up!”

“No, no, no, no!” Yuuri protests, backing away.

“Why not?” Victor asks with a frown.

“Be—because I’m really bad at DADA,” Yuuri confesses, blushing. “You’d be better off with someone—,” _who matches your level of skill_ just sounds like a lie since there’s no one here (not even Celestino) who’s on par with Victor, “—who will pose more of a challenge to you.”

Victor waves away Yuuri’s insecurities, “Nonsense! I’m sure you’re great.”

“But—.”

“Katsuki, line up!” Celestino barks. “We don’t have all day.”

Yuuri resigns to his fate.

Yuuri faces Victor, and they bow. Victor’s eyes are bright with excitement and Yuuri feels bad because he’s about to disappoint this boy so, so much.

“Wands at the ready and begin!”

If Yuuri thought Georgi was quick, Victor is inhumanely so. Yuuri doesn’t even know which spell Victor uses because it’s not in his own repertoire.

The world before his glasses turns white and leaves him feeling dizzy. He has the sensation he’s falling which is odd since he can also feel his feet planted firmly on the ground. He blinks rapidly to rid the whiteness but it doesn’t let up.

“Yuuri, focus!”

That’s the last thing he hears before his auditory sense is also stripped from him. Yuuri claws at his ears in a panic. What is happening?

He remembers Victor’s voice telling him to focus, so he calms down as much as he can before he thinks of the common counter-spell. _Finite Incantatem._

His hearing returns first and then slowly, his sight. He wishes it hadn’t though.

He’s laying curled on the floor (when did that happen? He could’ve sworn he was standing up just a moment ago), and the whole class is circled around him. Everyone gawks but it’s Victor’s gaze that has Yuuri shrinking further into himself. Victor probably thinks he’s so weak and pathetic. He’s going to realize how wrong he was about Yuuri and—

“Are you ok, Yuuri?” Victor asks and there’s nothing but worry in his blue eyes. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have used that spell on you right off the bat.” He helps Yuuri to his feet and the crowd dissipates.

Celestino also comes over to make sure Yuuri is alright and Yuuri lets his professor know he’s fine.

“Sit out for a bit.” He leaves no room for disagreement. Yuuri goes to sit in the corner with Victor at his heels. He slumps down against the wall, hanging his head between his legs.

“Told you I was no good at this.”

Victor doesn’t say anything, just sits down next to Yuuri with his shoulder and thigh touching his.

“You must really like this subject if you’re still willing to take it,” Victor says.

A sardonic laugh bubbles past Yuuri’s lips. “Yeah, I do. I think I’m some kind of a masochist.”

“That’s good because this will be a lot easier.” Victor’s tone has Yuuri peering at him curiously.

“I’ll train you in the Defense Against the Dark Arts.”

Yuuri searches for even a hint of humor in Victor’s eyes but they are dead serious.

It starts off as a soft huff then dissolves into full-blown, stomach-aching laughter. Yuuri laughs so much that his eyes tear up. He takes off his glasses, wiping away the wetness. Victor waits for him to finish, and his expression is even more determined than before.

“Oh, you were serious?” Yuuri is gobsmacked.  

“Of course I’m serious. I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t mean it entirely,” Victor responds, and Yuuri wonders if he’s offended him.

“But why?”

“Because I’m in a giving mood today,” Victor smiles innocently.

Yuuri snorts. He doesn’t know Victor’s ulterior motive is or maybe he just doesn’t have one. Regardless, it’s a very tempting offer and he thinks, what harm would he be committing if he got a few extra lessons from the talented Victor Nikiforov?

“Ok,” Yuuri agrees and Victor’s face splits into a brilliant smile.

Yuuri thinks this is the second thing he’s done right since meeting Victor.  

***

It turns out that Victor’s class schedule is entirely the same as Yuuri’s, so he stays glued to Yuuri’s side the entire morning. Yuuri doesn’t mind (not too much anyway) which honestly scares him. He doesn’t understand how he can feel so comfortable around a boy he hardly knows outside of the media representation of him.

But Victor has done it. With his heart shaped smile and electrifying eyes, he’s wormed his way into Yuuri’s life and built camp. Even the lively Phichit wasn’t this quick.

They arrive at the Great Hall for lunch together and for the first time ever Yuuri is earlier than his friends. In fact, he’s even earlier than the food. His professors are notorious for keeping classes running late but Victor somehow charmed their Arithmancy professor into letting them out early when Yuuri voiced how hungry he was getting.

“You never told me what your favorite food was, Yuuri,” Victor says as they sit down at the Gryffindor table.

“Oh, it’s a Japanese dish called katsudon.”

“Katsudon, huh? What is it?”

“It’s a pork cutlet bowl,” Yuuri informs him and just thinking about it makes his mouth water.

“Do they make it a lot here?” Victor idly plays with his hair.

“Uh, no actually. They don’t make it at all.”

Victor props his cheek on the palm of his hand. “Well that’s too bad. I was hoping to try it.” His eyes twinkle. “I guess you’ll just have to make it for me then won’t you?”

“I can’t,” Yuuri states. “Students aren’t allowed in the kitchens.” He leaves out the fact that he can’t cook.

Victor leans in dangerously close, “Oh, Yuuri,” he pauses to push Yuuri’s glasses back up the bridge of his nose, “live a little!”

“Hey, guys!” Phichit slams his books on the table and Yuuri jumps back. “Whatchu doing?” He stares between the two of them with a knowing smirk on his face.

“Yuuri here was just telling me about his favorite food,” Victor answers.

“Oh!” Phichit settles down across from them. “Let me tell you a funny story, Victor.”

Victor nods eagerly and Yuuri does not like where this is going. Not one bit.

“One Christmas, Yuuri ate so much katsudon that he vomited into his Christmas stocking when he was opening it.”

“Phichit!” Yuuri cries in horror, hands cupping both his cheeks. “Why are you like this?” That’s it! He needs a new best friend, asap!

Meanwhile, Victor and Phichit cackle like hyenas. _Great,_ Yuuri thinks, _now my idol knows I’ve puked!_ Yuuri wants to die of embarrassment.

Slowly the rest of Yuuri’s friends trickle in and join them, talking about their day so far and complaining about their insane workload. Again, Yuuri thinks how well Victor fits in with everyone.  

“So Victor, are you thinking about putting your name into the Goblet of Fire?” Leo asks.

Victor taps his chin, “Well, I was thinking about it, yeah.”

“Cool!”

“Yuuri, you should enter too,” Phichit suggests.

He’s about to nip that idea in the bud when an angry voice distracts him.

“What the fuck is up with this castle and the annoying moving staircases?” Yuuri recognizes the scowling blond boy from Beauxbatons immediately. Today, his hair is loose, covering half of his face. He could still kill someone with his glare then dance gracefully around their dead body though. He’s closely followed by the red head girl and a boy with two-toned blond hair and eyes the color of spring leaves. “It took us forever to find this place again.”

“You’re just mad because you fell in front of everyone when the staircase started moving,” the red head says.

“Shut up, you hag,” the younger boy retorts but the red head merely laughs, unperturbed.

“Hey, there’s Victor,” the two-toned blond says pointing their way and waving.

From beside Yuuri, Victor waves back, “Chris, Mila, Yuri, over here.”

 _Yuri?_ Yuuri thinks.

The red head sits across from Sara while the two-toned blond sits next to Yuuri and the scowling blond sits across from him. A sea green eye fixes him with a look that makes Yuuri’s insides wither away. _What the hell? I haven’t even said anything to him!_

“Everyone, this is Mila Babicheva,” Victor points at the pretty red head who smiles angelically. Yuuri notices with amusement that Sara looks pinker than usual. “This is Yuri Plisetsky,” he points at the scowling blond, “and this is my cousin, Christophe Giacometti.”

“You can all just call me ‘Chris’ though,” Chris says politely.

 _Wow his eyelashes are so long_ , Yuuri thinks.

The Hogwarts’ students introduce themselves too, and Yuuri is the last to go. “Hello, I’m Yuuri Katsuki.”

Yuri’s glare intensifies and Yuuri begins to sweat bullets. _Does this kid really belong at Beauxbatons?_ Yuuri thinks.

“I can’t believe I share a name with you,” Yuri says with disgust evident on his face. Everyone stares at him in shock.

“Yuri! Be nice!” Victor chastises.

Yuri just clicks his tongue and looks away.

“Sorry about him,” Victor apologizes sheepishly, “He’s just going through a phase.”

“I am not going through a phase, old man!”

“See?”

“If Victor is the Ice Prince of Beauxbatons for his skills, then our little Yuri here is the Ice Prince of Beauxbatons for his personality,” Mila jokes.

“You know it’s going to get really confusing, really fast with having two Yu(u)ri’s,” Phichit points out. Everyone nods.

A second later Phichit snaps his fingers, “I have an idea! Why don’t we call you Yurio?” He points at Yuri, and there is literally a vein popping out of the middle of his forehead. Yuuri finds it brave that Phichit is so unaffected by this. Yuuri would be quivering in his shoes.

“No way, that’s an awful name!” Yuri argues back angrily.

“I like it,” Victor says with a shrug and everyone agrees.

Yuri’s ears turn red in anger or embarrassment, Yuuri doesn’t know. “Why can’t _he_ be called Yuurio instead?”

“Because Yuuri is older, so he technically had the name first,” Phichit answers like it’s the dumbest question ever asked.

Yuri huffs and looks away, but he can’t deny the logic. Damn it.  

Suddenly, the Great Hall quiets as a few students from Durmstrang walk in wearing their classic maroon tunics with a belt tied around their waist and brown breeches.

Yuuri recognizes the three students. At the head is the boy with the undercut who rode in on the smoky motorcycle. On one of his sides is the nervous brown haired boy with the permanent blush and on the other side is the boy with the thick eyebrows who conjured the fiery eagle.

“That’s Otabek Altin,” Phichit whispers, referring to the boy with the dark undercut. “And that brown haired boy is Guang-Hong Ji.”

“What about the one with the thick eyebrows?” Georgi asks.

Phichit steadily turns a shade pinker, “That’s uh, Seu—Seung Gil Lee.”

“Otabek Altin,” Yuuri says to himself. The name sounds familiar but every time he gets closer to remembering where he may have heard it, it slips away.

“He competed in the DADA World Championships last year,” Victor helps out. “He lost before I could duel against him though.”

Phichit nods, “That’s all I know about him too. He’s a very secretive guy. There have been rumors going around that he’s interested in the Dark Arts, but then why would he compete in the DADA World Championships? People need to learn how to make better rumors.”

“Not all of us can learn from the best, Phichit,” Sara points out and Mila giggles.

“Damn, straight!”

“Doesn’t he kinda look like JJ?” Emil says.

Yuri snorts, “Who, that pathetic excuse of a seeker on the Bulgarian team? Oh, please.”

Isabella bristles, almost looking like an angry puffin. “Hey, that’s my boyfriend you’re talking about!”

Yuri looks her over. “I pity you. You’re not bad looking. You could do better.”

“Why, you little—,” Isabella goes to stand up, ready to strangle Yuri, but Georgi holds her back. Mila, Victor and Chris apologize profusely for his rude behavior.

Yuri meanwhile isn’t even paying attention because he’s just made eye contact with none other than Otabek Altin. Looks like Yuri is the type of person to attract trouble.

Otabek stares him with a face devoid of any emotion. He doesn’t even say anything, just stares unblinkingly.

Yuri raises an eyebrow, giving him a dirty look, “Huh? What are you looking at? You wanna fight?”

Otabek’s dark brown eyes stare at him for a little longer before he turns away and walks off to sit at the Slytherin table. Yuri glares at Guang-Hong too for good measure. The poor boy squeaks before hurrying off after Otabek while Seung shields him from everyone’s view. 

“Yuri, can you please try not to pick a fight with everyone?” Victor pleads. “You’re supposed to be representing Beauxbatons Academy. We’re not supposed to frighten people off.”

Victor seems to rethink his previous statement because then he says, “Well, unless it’s called for.”

“It was called for,” Yuri quips.

Everyone sighs, exasperated.

It’s going to be a long tournament, but Yuuri would be lying if he said he wasn’t excited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yurio trips in front of Oabek btw when the staircase moves. That's why he wants to fight Beka (poor baby is just embarrassed xD)  
> Let me know your thoughts! As always, kudos are very much appreciated!  
> [tumblr](http://www.rolling-blunder.tumblr.com)


	5. A Much Anticipated Conversation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So, what’s Victor like?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) I know nothing about Arithmancy. Literally pulled some shit out of my ass  
> 2) I love Yuuri and Mari's relationship.  
> Note/warning for this chapter: Slight angst and mentions of a sports injury.  
> Oh, also I would like to thank @bulletproofpotter (on tumblr) for always catching my grammar mistakes even tho she isn't my beta! She rocks! <3

“Yuuri!” Victor whines for the hundredth time in his ear since they’ve started working. Yuuri had hoped that doing homework at the library would keep the loquacious boy quiet but that was not the case. It didn’t help that whenever the librarian admonished them, Victor would just flash one of his repentant yet charming smiles, and she would let it go without a second thought. If it were Yuuri making trouble, he would have been kicked out long ago.

Yuuri stops writing and takes a deep breath to calm himself. _Don’t jinx Victor, don’t jinx Victor, don’t jinx Victor. You’re better than that_ , Yuuri thinks to keep his anger in check.

He sets his quill down and plasters a smile on his face. “Yes, Victor? What is it now?”

“This is hard,” Victor complains with a pout. “Why did you decide to take Arithmancy of all electives?”

"Because I like numbers and it’s interesting,” Yuuri snaps back. “Why did you even take this subject if you don’t like it?”

“Well, you’re the only person I knew here, so I just chose all the classes you were taking.” Victor smiles.

 _Wait a second…_ Yuuri thinks, narrowing his eyes. “How did you even get my schedule?”

Victor suddenly finds the buttons on his sleeves really intriguing. “Oh you know…a little birdy told me.”

“I’m going to kill Phichit.”

“Just please don’t tell him I told you while you commit the act,” Victor begs, “I don’t him to haunt me when he’s a ghost.”

Despite being annoyed, Yuuri can’t help but laugh at the image of a Ghost Phichit going around pranking people. “He’d definitely be a poltergeist.”

“Oh yes definitely,” Victor agrees with a chuckle. “He’d pull down students’ pants in the middle of the hallway or mix up their ingredients during Potions just to watch something blow up.”

They giggle, and Yuuri realizes he isn’t even annoyed anymore.

“What do you need help with?” He asks Victor.

Victor inspects his number chart and point to a number in the middle. “This one right here. What would that even predict? It’s so random from all the others.”  

“Ah, well you see, you can’t just look at the number by itself,” Yuuri explains. “You have to take into account where on the chart it’s placed and with that information, match it up with the number right here,” he points to a number in the corner, “because they fall in a similar pattern. Then when you use this formula, you’ll get another number and that’s the one that will help you predict meaning behind the text. Do you get it now?”

Victor’s eyes light up as everything clicks into place. “Oh wow, Yuuri, that makes so much more sense! You should teach the class. More than half the time, I don’t even know what that professor is talking about, especially with her heavy accent.”

“Don’t be silly, Victor,” Yuuri says, looking away and blushing from the praise. “I’m not at all qualified.”

He checks his watch then and realizes it’s almost time for dinner.

“We should pack up and head to the Great Hall for dinner,” Yuuri suggests and Victor agrees.

While they’re packing up their things, a paper airplane lands on top of Yuuri’s books. Victor eyes it curiously and waits for Yuuri to open it. Yuuri knows who it’s from immediately because only one person messages him this way. He unfolds it.

_Let’s have dinner tonight in my room. It’s about time._

_-Mari_

Yuuri knows this is about more than just dinner and honestly he expected this kind of message sooner.

He turns to Victor, “Um, sorry but I can’t join you and everyone else for dinner. My sister wants to eat with me in her room. We, uh, kinda make it a point to eat together at least once a week.”

“That’s very sweet,” Victor says with a smile, yet his eyes are somber. “I wish I had a sibling to do something like that with too.”

 _Oh, yeah. He’s an only child_. “Well, what about Chris? You guys are pretty close, right?”

“Now we are,” Victor admits, “But before he came to Beauxbatons, he lived in London. I hardly ever got to see him.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” And Yuuri is. He imagines a tiny Victor playing all by himself and though he might have had friends, it’s nothing like having a sibling.

Even though Yuuri and Mari have a thirteen-year age gap and Mari sometimes acts more like his mother than his sister, he still remembers getting up to all sorts of mischief with her. Then there were the fights. Oh, the fights! Grappling for the remote control, starting prank wars, laughing at Mari’s face when she tried to ice skate one winter but fell flat on her ass were all the things Yuuri loved about having a sister.

“But that’s ok,” Victor disrupts Yuuri’s thoughts, “I always kept myself busy with studying and training. Then one year my mother gifted me a baby Abraxan horse, and he’s the closest companion I’ve ever had.”

Yuuri’s eyes go wide. He knew Victor came from a wealthy family but an Abraxan horse? “Seriously?” He says out loud.

Victor laughs and shrugs on his blazer, “Yup! I’ll introduce you to him one of these days. You’ll love him.”

“Wait he’s here?” Yuuri and Victor finally exit the library.

"Yes. He was one of the dozen to pull our carriage on the way to Hogwarts.”

“It’s nice you could take him with you to Beauxbatons,” Yuuri observes. It’s true he doesn’t know what kind of creatures the French school allows, but he knows Hogwarts definitely wouldn’t.

“Actually, Headmaster Yakov loves to raise Abraxan horses. That’s why my mother gifted one to me. She knew I’d be allowed to take him with me to school.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” Yuuri nods in understanding.

They stop at a juncture. “Well, I’m going this way. I’ll see you after dinner.”

Victor nods and waves goodbye. “See you, Yuuri! Say hi to your sister for me.”

“Will do.”

***

Yuuri knocks on the door in front of him. A second later he hears a muffled “Come in”, so he enters.

Mari’s living arrangements also double as her office with a desk in the far end and a fire place in the corner. Behind her desk, there’s a large window overlooking the quidditch field off in the distance. To the side of the office are some comfy couches with a coffee table in the center. Her bedroom and attached bathroom are past a tiny alcove on the left.

Mari’s office is filled to the brim with quidditch related things. Posters of her favorite players grace the walls and Yuuri notices with a start, that one of them looks a lot like the older version of Yurio. They have the same blond hair and everything. He wonders how his sister will react when she finds out that there’s a doppelganger of her favorite player at Hogwarts right now.

Being an avid fan of the sport and a former star seeker for the Chudley Cannons, this much enthusiasm is expected. There is her collection of antique broomsticks that hang from the ceiling and pictures of her old Chudley Cannons team members all over her bookshelves. The “Best Seeker of the Year” trophies glint dully all around, testament to Mari’s skill at the prodigious sport. She was the best during her time, and Yuuri’s heart swells with pride.

But his favorite trinket is the golden snitch that Mari caught on her very first professional game. He doesn’t remember that game very much since he was so young, but he knows what a big deal it was for Mari. It was during her first year as Chudley Cannons’ seeker that they won the quidditch World Cup, snatching the victory from the reigning champions. It was the first time in over a decade that the Chudley Cannons had won the world series, shocking everyone. So yes, it was a _very_ big deal.

During the day, the snitch is free to fly around and then at night, Mari stores it away. It is also the same snitch that she uses when she’s teaching the first years. Yuuri had been baffled when he’d found out.

“Why would you use something so valuable to you as a teaching tool?” He had asked.

Mari had just laughed and ruffled his hair. “That’s its function Yuuri. It’s not meant to be trapped.”

The way Mari talked about the snitch made it seem like a sentient being. It had freaked Yuuri out at the time.

“But what if it flies off?” Yuuri had pressed.

“It won’t. It will always come back to me.”

The snitch circles around Yuuri’s head, tempting him to catch it.

“Oh, Yuuri, you made it,” Mari says as she comes out of her bedroom. She’s wearing a T-shirt and shorts and her hair is held back with her usual bandana that complements the numerous earrings she’s wearing. Yuuri doesn’t understand how she can wear shorts in such weather. Her room has always been colder than normal, and already he’s freezing in his robes.

“I already asked the house elves in the kitchens to send us some food so it should be arriving any mo—,” before she can even finish the sentence, two steaming plates of food and glasses of water and pumpkin juice appear on her desk.

She beams. “Good, I was getting hungry.”

Mari settles down on her chair and cracks her neck before she leans down and detaches her prosthetic leg. She rubs the end of her limb, wincing slightly.

“How’s the leg?” Yuuri asks.

“Oh you know, it always acts up when the weather starts getting colder,” Mari responds.

“Maybe you should—oh, I don’t know, _dress warmer and not wear shorts_ ,” Yuuri sasses back.

“Ok, _mom_.” She rolls her eyes but her lips pull into a smile. “Come on, let’s eat before the food gets cold.”

They dig in and Yuuri’s mind pulls him into another, more painful memory of Mari.

It was the summer before Yuuri’s fourth year at Hogwarts, and he was at quidditch World Cup final with the Chudley Canons versus the Bulgarians. The tensions and excitement in the stands were high, supporters from both teams trying to out-cheer each other. The Bulgarians had been leading but if Mari caught the snitch, the Chudley Canons would be the victors.

It was rainy and dark but Mari had whizzed after the golden snitch like it was nothing, with the Bulgarian seeker hot on her tail. Yuuri watched in amazement as she dodged bludgers and other players, hand outstretched and ready to close around the snitch.

The opposing seeker rammed into her at the last second. She crashed into the long stands and the rain made everything slipperier. Mari lost the grip on her broom and fell and kept falling. Yuuri stopped breathing as he watched the events. His stomach dropped as she disappeared from view and into the flaps of the stands. She didn’t come out but the game was over. The Chudley Cannons had won the World Cup yet again but at a great cost.

Back at St. Mungo’s, Yuuri and his parents worriedly waited for the healers to treat Mari. During her fall, her left leg had gotten stuck under the heavy wooden plank of the stands. It had taken a while but they finally freed her and rushed her to the hospital. The healer assured them that Mari would be fine, but Hiroko hadn’t stopped crying once. Yuuri had believed the healer. He trusted him.

Mari wasn’t fine.  

They had been in the same room as her when the healer told them the news.

“We tried our best. Unfortunately, the damage was great. We were able to get the blood flowing again in your leg,” he paused then, and Yuuri’s heart sank because he knew that look. He was choosing how best to deliver the bad news, “but it will never be the same as it used to be. You’ll have to walk with a cane, and there will be a lot of things you won’t be able to do. I’m sorry, Ms. Katsuki, but you won’t be able to play quidditch ever again.”

The bruises jumped out against Mari’s ghostly pale skin. She looked so small, so fragile surrounded by the stark white hospital sheets. It looked like she blended right in and the only thing that was visible were her dull brown eyes. Yuuri had never seen them look so lifeless before.

The healer went on to mention the physical therapy that Mari would have to undergo, but she wasn’t listening. She was already deep into the recesses of her mind.

Mari didn’t cry, not in front of anyone there. She was more dignified than that. She waited until everyone left. Yuuri watched from the small window on her door as she screamed into a pillow, tears of anger, of hopelessness streaming down her shattered face. And Yuuri could do nothing but watch.

Yuuri’s parents had been glad that nothing worse happened to their daughter. She could have died, they said, but Yuuri knew better. Mari was as good as dead if she couldn’t play quidditch. She had told him about the first time she ever sat on a broom and how she never wanted to get off. This was her _life_.

If it wasn’t for Minako, Mari’s depression would have spiraled out of control. Minako knew Mari since Hogwarts. Even though they were five years apart in age, they were the best of friends. Minako dropped all her responsibilities as Headmistress as soon as she heard of the accident. Day in and day out, even when Yuuri and his parents couldn’t, Minako stayed by Mari’s side. Even when she had to return to Hogwarts, she didn’t stop sending her support.

“What other options do I have?” Mari had asked her healer after trying and failing to play quidditch just like he had predicted. “This can’t be the only option. I want to play quidditch again. I won’t give up the sport I love so much so easily.” Her eyes burned, and Yuuri knew Mari wasn’t kidding. She would literally sell her soul to the devil if it meant she could continue playing.

“Well, there is one option…”

“No, absolutely not!” Hiroko shouted after Mari told Hiroko and Toshiya about her decision. “I will not let you lose a leg over a stupid _sport_!”

“You can’t tell me what to do,” Mari retorted with just as much fire, “I’m an adult now, and I’ve already made up my mind. I am due for surgery in two days.” She grabbed her mother’s hands and forced them still. “Please understand. This _stupid sport_ is all I have. Please be there for me. I need you now more than ever.”

Mari’s eyes welled with tears. Hiroko freed her hands from Mari’s grasp and wrapped them around her daughter.

“I will always be there for you, you know that,” Hiroko sobbed, kissing the crown of Mari’s head. “I just want what’s best for you.”

A few days later, Mari was fitted with a prosthetic leg. It was sleek, modeled after her very own. The healer had told her it would take her no less than a year to get used to it, and she would have to go through extra physical therapy. Mari accepted it with open arms, and everyone was just glad she was finally smiling again.

“What am I going to do for a year?” Mari had asked one day as Minako was visiting her.

“You need to rest,” Hiroko said.

“I have been resting, mom. I can only rest so much. I need to stay active, so I can keep up with the rest of my teammates when I rejoin them for the next season.” Mari chewed the inside of her cheek grumpily. “I also have to pay my bills.”

“What about all the money you have saved up?” Toshiya asked.

Mari looked away guiltily. “I may or may not have used my savings to start my broomstick collection.”

“Mari!” Hiroko berated.

“What?”

Minako snorted, “I’m not even surpirsed.”

“Finally, someone who gets me!” Mari said dramatically, and Minako fixed her with a soft look. It was the kind of look that made Yuuri feel like he was intruding on a private moment.  

“If you’re looking for a job, I have one for you,” Minako began. “Our Flying professor for the first years is getting married. She turned in her resignation letter just yesterday. I have been at my wits end trying to find a person to fill her position, but I think you’re more than qualified.”

“You _think_?” Mari teased. Minako just rolled her eyes at the younger woman.

“I don’t know if Mari should start such a job right away, Minako,” Hiroko voiced her concern.

“No, no, this is good,” Mari insisted. “It won’t be too difficult. Hogwarts has a great quidditch field, and I could probably even have some of the older students practice with me.”

Hiroko flung her arms in the air, “Why do I even bother saying anything to this girl? It’s like talking to a wall.” Toshiya patted his wife’s back comfortingly, but he was grinning.

“Don’t worry, Hiroko. I’ll take good care of her,” Minako said.

***

“I’m planning on staying,” Mari had said to Yuuri after the end of his fourth year.

Yuuri looked at her with confusion clear on his face. “Do you still need more time to get used to playing with your leg?”

Mari laughed. “No, not at all. Yuuri, I like it here. I like teaching Flying.”

Yuuri is at a loss for words.

“I know,” Mari said, shaking her head, “I’m surprised myself, but…I feel like in my competitive and hectic lifestyle, I forgot the real reason I started playing quidditch. And I see that reason on the first years’ faces every day I teach them.” She watched the first golden snitch she ever caught for the Chudley Cannons circle her office. Her brown eyes swam with years of memories. “They remind me of myself when I flew for the first time. I don’t want to forget that feeling again.”

Yuuri hugged his sister tightly. “Whatever you do, I’ll support you.”

***

“Yuuri,” Mari says, and Yuuri finally focuses in the present moment again, “Is something on your mind?”

Yuuri shakes his head and continues eating, “Not particularly.”

Mari doesn’t press him and instead changes the subject. “So, I heard Victor is sharing a room with you.”

No matter how hard he had tried, Yuuri would not have known how to handle this conversation.

“Ye—yeah,” he says.

Mari hums, “Interesting, since I could’ve sworn Minako assigned him to sleep in the Ravenclaw boys’ dormitory.”

“What?”

“Or maybe I’m just mistaken. You know I have a terrible memory.”

 _Quite the opposite, actually_ , Yuuri thinks but doesn’t say anything.

“Is it awkward?” Mari asks. “Especially after what happened in Sochi?”

Yuuri shakes his head, “No. Surprisingly, it’s not. I guess it also has to do with the fact that he doesn’t remember.”

Mari raises an eyebrow. “He doesn’t remember?” She repeats.

“Nope, otherwise he would have hinted it at least once. But he hasn’t.”

“Hmm.”

“It makes sense that he forgot though,” Yuuri says, taking a sip of his pumpkin juice. “He has so many fans. How can he remember them all?”

“True,” Mari agrees, “But you’d think he’d actually remember the first fan who turned away from him, right?” Mari’s eyes glinted with amusement.

“Please, let’s not talk about this,” Yuuri begs. “Just be happy for me that he doesn’t remember. It’d be so embarrassing otherwise. I couldn’t even look him in the eye.”

“Luckily, now you can stare unashamedly into his baby blues,” she winks.

“They’re more electric blue than baby blue, I’d say,” Yuuri blurts out before he can stop himself. His eyes go wide in horror. Mari snickers into her hand. “Pretend I didn’t say that.”

“No can do, baby bro!”

Yuuri groans and shovels food into his mouth in irritation.

They eat in silence for a bit before Mari speaks again, “So, what’s Victor like? Everything you imagined him to be or…?”

Yuuri chews slowly, pondering, “Yes and no. He has no concept of personal space whatsoever, and he whines constantly while doing homework, which was definitely a surprise. But he isn’t a bad guy.” Yuuri rolls the peas around on his place. “He’s nice.”

Mari nods and Yuuri continues, “And then he’s exactly like how I imagined him when it comes to DADA.” Yuuri stops and shakes his head, “Wait no, that’s a lie; he’s even more overwhelming. When he duels…It’s just something else.”

Yuuri stares off into space. “The only way I can describe him is that he’s like a moving, breathing work of art. You can’t take your eyes off of him. His every action is deliberate, but it doesn’t seem like it. He’s frighteningly powerful, yet…not?” He tugs at his hair in frustration at the sudden loss of words. “Arg! It’s hard to describe him. It’s even harder to believe he’s real sometimes.”

Yuuri snaps out of his thoughts and blushes red when he feels his sister’s unwavering gaze on him. She has _that_ look. The look that screams, “Boy, you’re whipped! Better be careful.” Yuuri wants to curl up into a ball and _die_.

“He told me to tell you ‘hi’ by the way,” Yuuri offers pathetically.

“Tell him I said ‘hi’ back,” Mari says with a smile curling around the lip of her glass as she drinks.

 _Might as well tell her now and get it over with_ , Yuuri thinks. “He’s offered to train me in DADA.”

Mari’s eyes widen to the size of saucers. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“And you accepted his offer?”

Yuuri nods.

“So does that mean you’re planning on entering in the Triwizard Tournament?”

“What? No!” _Why would she think that?_

Mari genuinely looks taken aback. “Then why is he training you?”

“Because he knows how much I want to get better at that subject,” Yuuri says. “This has nothing to do with the tournament.”

“I see. I just thought…,” she sighs, “I think—I _know_ you can do it if you wanted to, Yuuri. You definitely have the potential.”

Yuuri bows his head. “I—I’m just not ready.”

Mari doesn’t press him. They sit in awkward silence until the grandfather clock in Mari’s office chimes loudly.

“Oh, wow! I didn’t realize how late it was,” Mari announces. “You should get back to your common room, Yuuri. I don’t want you roaming around past curfew.”

She fits on her prosthetic leg and walks Yuuri to the door. He’s about to bid her a good night but she interrupts him. “You know, if you ever change your mind about entering in the tournament, I’ll support you.” Her brown eyes are determined as she hugs him tight. She also kisses his forehead just like their mother does, for good measure.

Yuuri smiles. “Yeah, I know.”

And he’s glad for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A happy new year to everyone! I hope the coming year is filled with pleasant surprises for you all! <3  
> Kudos and comments fuel me but criticisms are also welcome! (Esp since this was my first time writing about an injury so pls let me know how I handled it!)  
> Come chat with me on [tumblr](http://www.rolling-blunder.tumblr.com)!


	6. A Chance Encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You had the unforgettable eyes of a soldier.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank all of you for your comments and support! It means the world to me!  
> I'm sure you know what's coming based on the chapter summary lol!  
> (Oh! I also made a post on [tumblr](http://rolling-blunder.tumblr.com/post/155171097664/champion-of-the-cup-victor-of-the-heart) with some additional info regarding this au. It's basically everyone's ages/houses so you can keep track of them!)

Yuri Plisetsky is pissed.

Not only does he have to put up with stupid people calling him that stupid nickname “Yurio” that that stupid boy Phichit came up with, but now he’s also lost in this stupid castle that’s more like a maze than a castle. The chateau back in France is way better than this hunk of stone, Yuri thinks. There aren’t even any wood nymphs to sing to them in the Great Hall during the mealtimes.

Speaking of the Great Hall, how do all the students even fit in there? When Yuri first danced down the middle (seriously, he cannot believe Yakov had them do that just to show off to his ex-wife), he thought it was so tiny. Everyone is so squished together and always touching shoulder to shoulder. It grates on Yuri’s nerves if someone so much as breathes the same air as him but now he has to pretend he’s ok with random students elbowing him jokingly, especially that overzealous boy, Phichit. How the hell can someone be so happy _all_ the fucking time? Doesn’t his mouth hurt from smiling so much? Yuri’s facial muscles hurt from just _thinking_ about smiling.

“What the fuck,” he says to himself as he stops walking down the deserted corridor. “Didn’t I just pass by this ugly tapestry a minute ago?” He scans the thick textile depicting a weirdo foolishly teaching trolls ballet. Yes, he’s definitely passed this abomination before. He curses under his breath. He’s never going to find his way back to the Ravenclaw common room at this rate. It’s a good thing classes have ended for the day, otherwise Yakov would have his head if he found out Yuri was late to any of them. He kept stressing about “upholding Beauxbatons Academy’s good name” or some shit, but Yuri knows it’s only because Yakov is still competing against Lilia for having the best students. Yakov would rather die than have Lilia beat him at anything.

 _Well, even if I did make it back to that dumb common room, there’s no guarantee I’d actually be able to get in since that eagle-shaped knocker asks the more irrelevant riddles_ , Yuri thinks sullenly.

He hates Victor for forcing him to switch their accommodations.

“Please, Yuri,” he had begged after dinner on the night of their arrival, “switch houses with me!”

“Why?” Yuri had asked with narrowed eyes.

“Because Yuuri is in Gryffindor!” Victor had whined. “Haven’t you been paying attention at all?”

Yuri had almost felt a vein burst in his temple. Victor was such a moron.

“No,” he had answered, blasé. “I usually just hear an annoying buzzing sound whenever you talk.”

Victor had gasped, appalled. He looked heavenward, lips pulling into a delicate frown and eyes swimming with hurt, “What did I ever do to deserve such treatment? And from my dear underclassman too!”

Yuri had rolled his eyes at Victor’s over the top theatrics.

“Please let him have this,” Chris had said. “Otherwise you and I will never hear the end of his moaning and groaning. You know how much of a child he is.”

“Hey! I’m standing right here!”

Yuri had growled, “Fine, we can switch. Now will you just shut up?”

Victor had gone to hug Yuri. “Touch me and you die,” Yuri had threatened.

Victor had hugged him anyway.

As Yuri continues walking down the corridor, a magnificent, arched door suddenly appears on his right. He stops.

 _I must really want to get out of here if I’m seeing things_ , he thinks. He rubs his eyes but the door is still there. Yuri wonders if there is some sort of sign? Maybe this door is meant to appear when someone is desperate and Yuri is definitely desperate.

He goes to open it, thinking it’ll lead him down a secret passage way and straight to the Ravenclaw common room. (Maybe he’ll even get to avoid those annoying riddles.)

It isn’t secret passage way. It’s a gigantic room with vaulted ceilings, no windows (at least none that Yuri can see anyway), and towers of junk. Yuri’s jaw drops.

He couldn’t stop his legs from walking in even if he wanted to.

The room is a mess. He wonders how anyone can find anything in here. Or maybe it’s used to hide the extra rubbish from around the castle. Yuri doesn’t know, but he does see a lot of damaged furniture.

There are broken chairs and tables stacked on top of each other in such a way that nothing even teeters at that height. A cabinet close to him with a broken door contains bottles and bottles of potions, some congealed others still liquid. They all look disgusting and probably smell even worse. There are also a few corked bottles whose contents still shimmer evilly, and Yuri stays clear of those.

He goes further and further into the room, past endless archways and columns. The more he explores, the weirder shit he sees. Dragon eggshells, snake fangs, and what he thinks are troll toenails litter the floor. At this rate, Yuri will probably have to walk on his tippy toes to avoid stepping on any of that gunk and risk dirtying his nice loafers.

But there are cooler things too. Jewels and diadems decorate mannequins with fancy hair and caked up faces. He sees some wearing Victorian ball gowns. The design and heavy stone work on the dresses still sparkles even though he’s sure they’ve been around for hundreds of years. He even comes across a tree with silver leaves, bearing golden apples. He touches one and instantly gets burned.

“Son of a—!” He yelps and licks the abused skin.

Yuri thinks he’s had enough. Roaming around this place is a useless endeavor, so he thinks it’s time to get out of here. He hopes he can find the door again.

He turns around and stops in his tracks.

Before him stands a suit of armor, unpolished yet impressive with a halberd in one hand. Yuri has seen enough suits of armor to last him a lifetime. But this one in particular might just be his favorite because someone has dressed it in a T-shirt. It’s not just any T-shirt though. It’s black with a magnificent lion covering almost the entire front. It’s obvious it probably once belonged to someone from Gryffindor or someone put it on the armor as a prank, but the more Yuri stares into the lion’s golden eyes, the more he wants it. It’s not a tiger, but he supposes beggars can’t be choosers. It’ll still look good in his collection.

“Fuck it. No one’s going to come back to claim it anyway,” he reasons and begins to strip it from the armor.

After much clattering and cursing and almost getting stabbed in the eye by the halberd, Yuri finally has the T-shirt in his hand. He wants to wear it right away but it stinks.

“Damn it!”

Then he realizes he has his wand on him and knows a useful spell Mila taught him when he had a run in with a skunk last year before the Christmas party. Within no time the T-shirt smells like the laundry detergent his grandpa uses back at home.

Yuri takes off his blazer and button down, he puts on the T-shirt and ties his button down around his waist, not bothering to hold it in his hand. After putting the blazer on again, he inspects himself in the ornate mirror next to the armor. The T-shirt looks nice on him although a bit kitschy with the rest of his preppy uniform. But Yuri Plisetsky doesn’t give a shit what other people think.

He continues on his way, satisfied, but that satisfaction soon fades when he realizes he’s lost in this enormous place because he does not remember seeing that rusty car before.

“I hate my life,” he groans but his curiosity gets the better of him as he approaches the vehicle. Yuri had always wondered how muggles drove these things. He wouldn’t mind driving one himself one day, if given the chance.

The car’s windows are shattered and its blue paint is chipping. One of its headlight is also broken and the mirrors on the sides are barely hanging on. The tires are busted and the smell of old rubber assaults Yuri’s nose the closer he gets to it. When he peeks into the car, Yuri nearly dies of fright because there sprawled across the back seat is a human skeleton.

Yuri will deny the high pitched scream that comes out of his mouth until the day he dies. He stumbles back and in his haste to get as far away from the car as possible, he crashes straight into a leaning tower of clutter. He’s thankful for his quick reflexes as he avoids everything falling around him. Jars, chairs, trunks, books shower down like rain. The last thing to fall is a cage full of these bright blue creatures that have the shrillest voice Yuri has ever heard. They’re even shriller than when Victor is singing in the bath and decides to hit the high notes in the song.

When the cage makes contact with the floor, it breaks open and Yuri’s blood runs cold. These aren’t just any blue creatures. They’re the pesky Cornish pixies.

They burst from the cage and straight at Yuri, beady eyes gleaming as they decide the best way to exact their revenge. They squeal and laugh as they wreak havoc on Yuri, especially his clothes.

“Not the T-shirt, you blue bastards!” He screams as they pull at his new clothing.

Yuri goes for his wand but pixies knock it out of his hand and fling it away. They pinch at his skin and Yuri yelps in pain. He tries to swat them away with his hands but they are fast fliers. Tired of seeing Yuri fight back, the pixies hoist him into the air by his ears.

Yuri screams, legs flailing like pieces of thread in the breeze and hands clawing at the pixies latched onto his ears, but the little fuckers are strong. “Let me go!”

Suddenly, the pixies freeze and there’s a disorientated look in their eyes. They stare at their surroundings confused then release their grip on Yuri. His eyes are screwed shut as he yells and falls because he doesn’t want to witness his own death.

He expects to make contact on the stone floor with a bloody _splat_ but instead he falls straight into the arms of another, very _warm_ person. Otabek Altin stares into Yuri’s astonished face. He’s expressionless and his hair is more disheveled than normal. He’s wearing his black leather jacket, and Yuri realizes he likes the feel of the worn leather under his fingertips where he’s touching Otabek’s shoulders.

“Come on,” Otabek says, and Yuri feels it rumble in his chest. “They’ll only stay stunned for a bit longer.” He gently sets Yuri back on his feet and only then does Yuri realize that he was just in the arms of another guy. He blushes and hides his face behind his hair.

Otabek offers Yuri his wand back. “Are you coming or not?”

As soon as he says those words, the pixies bustle back to life and the decision is already made for Yuri. The two run like the room’s caught on fire. The pixies are hot on their tail, shrieking angrily, but Otabek navigates them with ease. Finally, Yuri sees the door. Otabek opens it with his wand and the two burst through and into the empty seventh floor corridor. Otabek closes the door right before the pixies are also able to follow them out. Yuri hears the muffled thump as the pixies hit the closed door on the other side, and he smirks. Immediately, the doors disappear.

Yuri turns to Otabek, who’s staring at him intently. “How did you even find me?”

“I was on this floor and saw you go into that room, so I followed you in,” Otabek responds.

Yuri eyes him suspiciously. “Stalker much?”

“It was a mere coincidence that I chanced upon you,” Otabek says, unruffled. “Besides, if I hadn’t, you’d probably still be hanging from the ceiling.”

“I had it under control,” Yuri retorts, glaring daggers, but Otabek is unaffected.

“Come on,” he says instead, “I need to talk to you.”

“Why would I go anywhere with you?” Yuri asked. What did Otabek want with him anyway? They hadn’t even met before coming here. “I know nothing about you, and you’re from a rival school. I’m not even sure we should be talking right now.”

Otabek’s dark brown eyes bore into Yuri’s green. Yuri feels exposed, and he doesn’t like this feeling. It’s like Otabek can see right through his lies.

“I won’t do anything to harm you,” Otabek says calmly. He doesn’t bring up the fact that Yuri had no trouble interacting with the students from Hogwarts. “You can trust me.”

And the strange thing is, Yuri does. It scares him, but he trusts this mysterious guy.

“Alright,” Yuri says, head held high. “Lead the way.”

At least now he can get more insight on the infamous Otabek Altin.

***

Otabek leads them all the way to the Astronomy Tower. Yuri has to keep away from the railings because… _high, it’s too high_ , he thinks. He never was good with heights. He hopes Otabek didn’t bring him here to push him over the edge. Wait, no he trusts this guy. Otabek would never. _I hope_ , Yuri thinks. He still keeps a safe distance from the railings, and Otabek doesn’t press him to come closer.

The sun is setting and the orange and sepia tones are reflected in the large lake below. Yuri can just make out the faint outline of the moon, a sliver of silver battling against the divine gold. It’ll win in a matter of minutes as the night progresses; it’ll take the throne for the little while that it can. Knowing that satisfies Yuri.

“I remember you, Yuri Plisetsky,” Otabek says suddenly.

 “Huh?” Yuri responds eloquently. “But we just met.”

Otabek shakes his head, “I didn’t expect you to remember. It has been over three years after all, and we didn’t even talk then.”

Yuri walks to the railing, to Otabek, careful to not look down. The breeze tears through his blazer, and he shivers.

Yuri studies Otabek’s profile. In the glow of the sunset, he looks somber, dark brown eyes downcast and studying the water below. He looks different from the entrance ceremony and all the times after that. Gone is the dark horse that everyone fears. Before Yuri stands a boy who’s ready to bare his heart out with little regard for the consequences.

“Where was this?” Yuri asks slowly.

“It was at Beauxbatons,” Otabek says and Yuri is even more surprised. _Otabek was at Beauxbatons, and I didn’t even know?_

“Don’t worry. I was only there for a visit,” Otabek says as if reading Yuri’s thoughts. “At the time, I was already enrolled in Durmstrang. Already at that age, I was worried about what I might do after I graduated. Growing up with a muggle mother, I didn’t know much about the wizarding world. Headmistress Lilia helped me though. I wasn’t particularly gifted in any subject, but I was good at dueling and Defense Against the Dark Arts. She honed that skill, and I caught the attention of Yakov.”

“Yakov?” Yuri parrots.

Otabek nods, “Yes, Yakov. He asked me to transfer to Beauxbatons, saying he would do a much better job training me than Lilia ever could. He even offered a handsome sum of gold. Naturally, Lilia was furious, but my mother was tempted by the money. She said we needed it. She forced me to go, and Lilia agreed on the one condition that she could go with me.”

Otabek pauses and finally turns to Yuri, looking but not really seeing. His eyes are lost in the past. “It was during the tour Yakov was giving that I saw you for the first time. You were in DADA.” Otabek _sees_ Yuri then. “I saw you dueling and thought you had the unforgettable eyes of a soldier.”

Yuri’s eyes widen. “A soldier?” That is not at all what he expected to hear. “Me?”

Otabek looks back at the horizon.

“Otabek, why didn’t you transfer to Beauxbatons?” Yuri asks, curious. It’s a good school, and Otabek would’ve definitely fared better there. For all that Yuri complains about Yakov, he’s actually a great headmaster and teacher.

“I didn’t want to be owned like some sort of trophy,” Otabek replies. “I feel like that’s all I ever was to Yakov: the next Victor Nikiforov. He just wanted to make sure that if someone did come along to beat Victor that it was one of his own students. He didn’t want to have the threat of one of Lilia’s students surpassing his looming over his head.”

 _That’s actually something Yakov would do_ , Yuri thinks.

“But you do know that I’ll be the one to beat Victor, right?” Yuri confides. “I’ll be the one to overthrow him.”

Otabek watches him closely. Yuri feels warm under that piercing gaze, but he doesn’t dare break eye contact.

“I’m glad to hear you say that. It’ll be an honor to ever duel against you,” Otabek finally declares.

Yuri looks away, embarrassed yet…pleased. “No one has ever said that to me before.”

Otabek waits for him to continue and Yuri takes a deep breath. “I’ve had to work hard to break down the stereotypes people have about me. I mean, look at me,” he gestures to his body, “I don’t look like the type of person who’d win a duel or be good a DADA. I—I want to prove everybody wrong.”

“I’m glad I talked to you, Yuri,” Otabek confesses, “We’re more alike than I imagined.”

He extends his hand then, “Are you going to become friends with me or not?” Yuri stares at him, bug eyed, but he appreciates his bluntness. 

Otabek’s face doesn’t have a hint of deceit, and Yuri knows now why he trusts him.

They may be rivals now, but there’s no harm in granting such a small wish. If it’s friendship Otabek desires, Yuri will give it to him because truthfully, no one has ever asked to become friends with him before. He shakes Otabek’s hand and feels the pleasant heat spread to the rest of his body.

By the time they leave the astronomy tower, the night has taken over the day, if only for a little while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to think the Room of Requirement appeared for Yurio because deep down he was wishing for a friend and viola we get Otabek! :D  
> I hope I can continue starting my chapter titles with "A..." I would hate to ruin the streak I have going :/  
> Let me know how I did in the comments or on my [tumblr](http://www.rolling-blunder.tumblr.com)! Kudos are welcome too!


	7. A Meeting in the Stables and a Lesson in Charms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’m a part of one of your happiest memories?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eeppp sorry for going away for a bit there. I got busy with stuff and a little lazy. But now I'm hoping, (really hoping) to update regularly. This chp is eh still. Nothing going on too much plot wise but I plan to pick it up next chapter. Enjoy!

Minami knows he shouldn’t be out at this hour but he can’t help it. He needs to those beautiful winged horses again.

After dinner he had snuck into the kitchens to ask the house elves for some apples. The house elves loved Minami and asked no questions as they gave him a small rucksack of the fruit.

Minami had learned early on that these Abraxan horses loved apples. One early morning after breakfast, he had snuck out to the stables to see them, apple in hand to be eaten before class. He observed the enormous creatures from afar before finally plucking up the courage and approaching them. As soon as he got close, one of the winged horses curiously nosed along the pocket of his robes. Minami almost had a heart attack. Then he realized that in that pocket was the apple. He took it out and hesitantly offered it to the horse. The Abraxan gobbled it up like it was a peanut and immediately started sniffing for more. This caught the other horses’ attention as well, but sadly Minami didn’t have any more apples. After that, he vowed he would bring some with him whenever he came to visit them.

Sneaking around at night is difficult. More than once he finds himself hiding in a nook or behind a stone column so Celestino wouldn’t catch him. Eventually though, he makes it out to the stables and there they are.

Minami’s breath still catches in his throat when he sees the magnificent creatures. They’re _huge_ , almost the size of elephants but much more svelte. Just their legs are taller than Minami himself. And their wings! If unfurled, Minami thinks they might just be shy of spanning all three quidditch goal posts. Each feather is longer than Minami’s arm and softer than the tuft of hair on a newborn’s head. He would love to lie on a bed of their cream colored feathers.

He looks around the stables to make sure no one is there before approaching his favorite winged horse, the one he gave the apple to the very first time.

“Hello, Applejack!” Minami greets her, and she turns at the sound of his voice. Immediately she whinnies in excitement and Minami laughs. “How are you, my beautiful girl?”    

She ducks her head so Minami can run a hand down her lustrous mane. She huffs softly, satisfied. Applejack is the smallest of all the Abraxan horses here but what she lacks in height, she makes up for in her _colorful_ personality.

“Look what I got for you.” He takes the rucksack off his back and as soon as he opens it, Applejack starts sniffing the inside. “Alright, alright hold on a second! Patience, big girl!”

He takes an apple out, and Applejack eats it from his palm, munching contentedly. She immediately neighs for another one.

Minami wags a finger at her, trying to keep his face serious, “Now, now, Applejack. We have to share with your brothers and sisters too.”

By now the other winged horses have also surrounded Minami. He should feel scared because they could squish him like an ant, but he knows they would never do that. They are all well-behaved and they love Minami, or at least the treats he brings anyway.

“Ok, guys, calm down!” Minami takes out the apples one by one otherwise they’d all go crazy at the sight of so many. He approaches each horse individually while the others wait patiently for their turn, except for Applejack who keeps nosing and batting her long eyelashes for more. It’s hard, but Minami resists her, giving her a stern look instead. The last horse he feeds has the curliest mane Minami has ever seen on any horse, winged or otherwise. For that reason, he’s nicknamed him “Cincin”.

“How are you, boy?” Minami asks Cincin who just snorts in response. He’s such a happy horse, probably the only one without any mood swings. He was also the first to accept Minami even when he didn’t have any apples to give him.

Right now though, all the twelve horses are happy. They flap their wings, creating a cold draft and scattering hay everywhere. Minami shields his eyes from the dust, but he’s laughing.

“So you’re the reason the horses have been in such a good mood lately,” a voice says and Minami freezes. The horses continue about their business, unbothered.

 _This is it_ , Minami thinks sadly, eyes welling with tears. _I’m going to be in so much trouble but even worse, I won’t be allowed to see Applejack and the others again._

He turns slowly, ready to face the music. He looks up and the person approaching him is a Beauxbatons student. And he’s…smiling?

Minami recognizes those green eyes that look like sunlight filtering in through a canopy of leaves. He recognizes the two-toned blond hair, but the boy’s name escapes him. He knows it’s something common though. _I think Victor mentioned he was his cousin._

“You’re Kenjirou, right? One of Yuuri’s friends?” The boy asks, finally standing in front of him.

Minami nods slowly and the boy extends his hand. “I don’t know if you remember me but I’m Chris, Victor’s cousin.”           

 _Ah,_ Chris _! That’s his name!_ Minami doesn’t want to be rude, so he shakes Chris’ hand.

“I—I’m so sorry,” Minami squeaks, “I know I shouldn’t be here. It’s just—I got really excited when you guys brought the Abraxan horses, and I just had to see them!”

Minami fiddles with the hem of his sweater, flushing slightly. “Please, don’t tell on me. I don’t want to lose points for my house. I—I won’t ever come back to see the horses.” His eyes tear up again.

“Why on earth would I tell on you?” Chris’s voice is genuinely incredulous, and Minami’s neck snaps up to look at him with wide eyes. Did he just hear that correctly?  

“You—you won’t?”

Chris shakes his head as a smile graces his face. “I’ve never seen the horses look happier. They weren’t very keen on traveling here, and then they had to come live in this new environment. I could tell they were depressed.”

Chris pauses to stroke Rarity’s (that’s what Minami has named her) snout. She leans further into his hand, obviously familiar with the touch.

“We should actually be thanking you for cheering up our beauties,” Chris finishes.

Minami rubs the back of his neck in embarrassment. “It was nothing really. They’re lovely creatures. I’m just glad I could help.”

Applejack rubs up against Minami’s back, and the young boy jumps in surprise. “Oh, Applejack, you scared me!” She bows her head in apology.

“Applejack?” Chris laughs.

Minami flushes again. “Um, yeah. I didn’t know their actual names, so I gave them my own.”

“Ah, makes sense,” Chris nods in understanding and his eyes still sparkle with amusement. He points at Applejack. “Well ‘Applejack’s’ real name is Tempest.”

“Tempest?” Minami repeats, stroking her mane. At the sound of her real name is neighs. “That’s a pretty out of character name.” Minami realizes that probably came out as more of an insult. “No offense! I mean—.”

Chris laughs and waves of Minami’s concern. “It’s alright. I mean to you it may seem like it, but I’ve practically seen her grow up. She very temperamental, very picky with who she allows into her life. When she first came to Beauxbatons as a foal, she was very violent, probably because she was so small and still is actually. She has this tough act going on so she can stay on par with her more impressive brothers and sisters.”

He attempts to stroke Tempest/Applejack but she backs away, burrowing further into Minami’s side. She almost topples him over. Chris goes back to stroking “Rarity”.

“I’m honestly surprised she let you get so close to her. It took me ages. I thought we were friends but now look at her. It’s like I’m a stranger.” There’s no jealousy outlining Chris’ words, just wonder. “Looks like you have a real gift working with magical creatures, Kenjirou.”

Minami practically _glows_ from the praise. _He’s a good kid_ , Chris thinks. _If I had a younger brother, I’d want him to be just like Kenjirou._

“I love caring for magical creatures,” Minami says. “It’s what I want to do when I grow up.”

“Well, I can confidently say that all magical creatures will be in safe hands with you looking after them,” Chris winks good naturedly, and Minami falls into a fit of giggles. 

“Are you also interested in working with them?” Minami asks after he’s recovered from laughing.

Chris thinks for a moment, “I wouldn’t _mind_ working with them, but it’s not my first choice of occupation. I would only pick Abraxan horses or any species of winged horses if I did go into that line of work. I’m better with them.” He pats “Rarity” with a fond look on his face.

“Looks like you two are very close,” Minami observes.

Chris nods, “Yeah, we are. Gaelle, here, belongs to me. She was a present from my parents.”

“Wow that’s so cool!” Minami squeals. He sighs forlornly then, “I wish I had a cool pet like that too. But all I could afford was an owl.”

“You’re welcome to come spend time with Gaelle whenever you want,” Chris says kindly. “And I’m sure Victor wouldn’t mind it if you spent time with his horse as well.”

“He has one too?” Minami is seriously jealous.

“Yup! He’s that one right there.” Chris points to the horse with the curliest mane.

“Cincin?” Minami asks, surprised.

“That’s what you named him? That’s cute,” Chris laughs, “You should tell Victor. He’d like that.”

Minami laughs nervously instead of answering. He’s still too scared and mortified to be around Victor after that fainting incident.

“Since you’ve never seen Abraxan horses until now, I bet you haven’t ridden on one either, huh?” Chris questions the younger boy.

Minami shakes his head, “No I haven’t.”

“Well, one day I will let you ride Gaelle,” Chris says, “How about it?”

Minami’s eyes pop out and his jaw hangs open at the offer. _Riding an Abraxan horse. Pinch me. I must be dreaming…_

“Kenjirou? Earth to Kenjirou?” Chris waves a hand in front of Minami’s face and Minami finally snaps out of his daze.

“You’d really let me?” He bites his lip.

“Of course!” Chris laughs. “Gaelle loves giving people rides.”

“Oh, thank you, Chris!”

“You’re welcome, Kenjirou. That’s what friends are for after all.”

***

“Yuuri, are you good at Charms?” Victor asks suddenly as they take a seat. His eyes are liquid fire as he leans into Yuuri’s space. _Where the heck is this coming from?_ Yuuri’s about to answer when Victor beats him to it. He’s so close that Yuuri can smell his unique lavender scent as he breathily whispers, “Because you’ve _bewitched_ me.”

Yuuri gives him the most deadpan look he can muster. He can visibly see Victor’s flirtatious façade crack the more time he takes to respond. It’s actually quite funny. He finally speaks though. “That was awful. Please don’t ever use that on anyone else. And if you do and get hit, well don’t say I didn’t tell you so.”

“Yuuri, that was mean!” Dorky Victor returns and this time with a pout. “My pick-up line was flawless!” He flips his long hair onto his back.

Yuuri snorts, “Yeah, right. It was about as flawless as your smolder.”

“What’s wrong with my smolder?” Victor’s voice raises with each word that leaves his mouth.

 _He’s genuinely upset_ , Yuuri thinks, amused. “No one’s lips should look like a duck’s.”

“Yeah, but I’m a cute duck,” Victor winks.

Yuuri facepalms. “Oh Jesus Christ—”

“Settle down now, class,” Professor Yuuko interrupts as she closes the classroom door and walks back to the front. Everyone quiets down immediately. “Thank you. Now, in honor of our special guests,” she looks at Victor and the few other Beauxbatons students scattered around the classroom and smiles, “and the drop in weather, we have a very special lesson planned today.”

Everyone waits for her to continue. “Today, we’re going to learn how to make snow!”

The whole class cheers and even Yuuri is excited. From next to him, Victor smiles. _This will be a piece of cake for him_ , Yuuri thinks. For once, he isn’t worried about disappointing Victor because they are in Charms, the one subject Yuuri excels in.

“Try not to show off too much, Victor,” Yuuri teases.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Victor replies but his eyes are sparkling with mischief.

“Now then,” Yuuko interrupts their banter, “Wands up! Up, up, up, come on! We don’t have all day.”

The class jumps into action.

“The spell is pretty simple and as always pronunciation is key,” Yuuro emphasizes. “Now repeat after me: _Nix nivem_.”

“ _Nix nivem!_ ” The class says.

“Good!” Yuuko beams. “Now point your wand upwards and wave it in a semicircle while saying the spell.”

The class follows the directions. For some it works right off the bat but for others it doesn’t.

Yuuri watches snow gather on his books like powdered sugar. He tilts his chin up and closes his eyes as the cold flakes melt with the heat of his face.

“Good job, Yuuri!” Yuuko exclaims as she passes by his desk. Yuuri nods his head bashfully. “And Victor, of course I didn’t expect anything less from you.”

Victor has enough snow gathered around to make a little village complete with snow-children making a snowman while others are dodging snowballs or making snow angels.

“Show off,” Yuuri grumbles but he will admit it’s a cute scene. Victor just offers a charming smile and continues making it snow over the little village as the children run around.

“Keep up the good work, both of you,” Yuuko says before turning away. Her expression quickly morphs into one of distress as she looks behind Yuuri and Victor. “John, I said a semicircle! We want a slight snowfall, not a blizzard!” She hurries over to John before he buries the whole classroom in snow.

“Yuuri, look!” Victor grabs his attention and points to one of his snow-children suspiciously facing a pile of snow. He turns the small mound yellow. “Yellow snow!”

Yuuri giggles, “Victor, that’s disgusting!”

“But you still laughed.”

The color changing gives Yuuri an idea. He says another spell and the snow above him turns multicolored as it falls. He smiles, pleased.

“Who’s the show off now?” Victor taunts playfully but when Yuuri turns to him, he sucks in a sharp breath.

Yuuri cocks his head to the side in confusion. “What’s wrong Victor?”

Victor doesn’t answer but takes off Yuuri’s glasses instead. The world goes slightly fuzzy but Victor is still in focus. Yuuri is too stunned, so he lets Victor do as he pleases.

Victor looks at him unlike the way he looked in the beginning of class. Instead of his eyes burning, they fill Yuuri with a warmth he didn’t know was possible to get from a single glance. Victor rests his chin on his palm and just stares deep into Yuuri’s eyes with complete wonder, like he’s some kind of masterpiece. Yuuri gulps and feels the figurative warmth turn to reality as his cheeks bloom red.

“Wh—what is it?” Yuuri dares to ask.

“The purple snowflakes caught in your lashes make your brown eyes look even more beautiful,” Victor answers with a soft smile and clouded eyes. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”

Yuuri blinks rapidly. He didn’t even feel the snowflakes resting on his eyelashes. He feels his blush bleed down to his neck from Victor’s praise. How can he just say something like that without being embarrassed?

Yuuri does the only thing he can think of in such a situation: he looks away. “I—I can’t see without my glasses.”

Victor gives the glasses back to Yuuri, but he’s still got that smile, that dopey look on his face, like someone put a Cheering Charm on him. Yuuri is afraid to acknowledge it, but luckily he doesn’t have to.

“Alright, class. Now that you’ve got more or less of an idea on how to create snow, let’s move onto making individual snowflakes,” Yuuko announces with a clap. “You will take an individual snowflake, make it bigger, and morph it to your liking. Design it however you want. I will judge and award the person with the prettiest snowflake five points.”

Yuuko does a demonstration. Everyone watches in awe as the snowflake expands almost to the size of Yuuko’s head. At the center of the flake is a perfect hexagon and protruding from each side are spikes that branch off, some intertwining with others like an intricate mesh of thorns before ending in a fleur de lis. It looks razor-sharp as much as it looks beautiful. Yuuko continues to melt away the middle before taking her wand and creating a picture of two doves nuzzling each other with three chicks nestled into their sides.

“This is an example,” Yuuko says after she finishes. “I actually quite like this one. I think I’ll keep it.” A transparent thread falls from the ceiling and ties itself to the tip of the snowflake. It dangles and spins high, catching the light and scattering it into a faint rainbow of colors.

The spells used are all the ones they’ve been taught before but the hard part as all the students soon realize, is keeping the snowflake intact.

“Why does it keep melting?” One of Yuuri’s classmates complains.

Yuuko just smiles deviously, “Figure it out yourself.”

It’s obvious why it’s melting. There’s no way such a delicate snowflake (no matter how big) can fully withstand the heat in the room. Yuuri knows this. He also knows the solution to this.

Yuuri thinks about the cherry blossom enclosed in ice, one of the many Victor had rain down doing his entrance ceremony, that currently lies under his pillow. When Yuuri first realized that it wouldn’t melt, he took it upon himself to find out why. He looked ahead in his Charms book and came across the spell to keep an object from melting. But he knew it was different magic from the one Victor used because its effects could only last an hour at most.

“Why hasn’t this melted yet?” Yuuri had asked Victor one night as he sat inspecting the beautiful object in their dormitory.

Victor had remained oddly silent before he finally spoke, “You don’t know?”

Yuuri shook his head and wondered why Victor’s smile suddenly turned a little sad. He was even more surprised at himself for noticing the minuscule shift in his mood. “I searched in my books but there was no mention of this kind of magic. I probably should’ve checked in the library, but I haven’t had the time.”

“Why go to the library when you have me?” Victor gestured to himself.

“Good point,” Yuuri chuckled. “So…?”

“It will never melt,” Victor informed him, “Well, that is, as long as I’m _alive_ it will never melt.”

“Magic that ties into your life force,” Yuuri whispered to himself as he traced an iced petal with the pad of his thumb. “I didn’t think it was possible.”

“It is very rare, and I myself can only do it with ice magic,” Victor said.

“It doesn’t make you weak?”

“Nope.”

“And you could melt this if you wanted to?”

“Yes, since I am the one who made it. Why? Do you want me to? Do you just want the flower?” Victor extended his hand but Yuuri held the blossom close to his chest.

“No! I—I like it like this. I only asked because I was curious. When did you realize you could do this anyway?”

There it was again, the sadness, the pain in his eyes that appeared for a fraction of a second before Victor covered it up again with his happy-go-lucky countenance. “I was about twelve when I first figured it out. Then I started enclosing everything in ice! Mom got so mad.” He laughed at the memory, and Yuuri joined in. Yuuri spent the rest of the night listening to stories about Victor’s childhood before falling asleep with his belly aching from all the laughter.

“How are you keeping your snowflake from melting, Yuuri?” John asks from behind him.

Yuuri turns around and makes sure Yuuko is out of earshot before he whispers, “The spell is on page 588. Pass the info around.”

“Thanks man!”

Yuuri smiles and goes back to his creation. His snowflake is just many different sized circles fitting together to form the classic shape. The largest circles are in the center of each side of the hexagon. From the hexagon, more facets distend with a trio of larger circles forming an arc. At the very end, Yuuri has ice curl and loop, like vines, through the small circles outlining the edges of the snowflake.

But Yuuri isn’t done yet.

At the center of the larger circles, he plans to etch his favorite memories. One by one he carves some of the happiest moments with his wand: his family and him sitting by the hearth opening presents on Christmas; ice skating for the very first time; Yuuri’s parents surprising him with Vicchan; Mari getting accepted into Hogwarts; Yuuri himself getting accepted into Hogwarts; Yuuri’s first boat ride across the Great Lake; going to quidditch games with Mari; meeting Phichit for the first time; casting his first corporeal patronus; Yuuri and his group of friends sitting by the Great Lake; and, Yuuri and Victor sitting on the floor of the DADA classroom.

Yuuri doesn’t even realize he’s drawn the last image until it’s too late, but he thinks he likes it. He leaves everything but his memories transparent. By the end, it looks more like a stained glass photo album than a snowflake.

“Alright, class is almost about to be over. It’s time to see whose snowflake is the best!” Yuuko declares and finally Yuuri takes in his surroundings. Everyone is done except for Victor who has been staring at Yuuri working the entire time.

“Is that us?” Victor says as he points to the picture of the two of them sitting.

Yuuri blushes, embarrassed. “Yea—yeah.”

Yuuko goes around complimenting everyone’s work. Some are truly great works of art.

“Wow, guys, you are making it really hard to pick a favorite,” Yuuko confesses. She stops at Victor and Yuuri’s desk. “Victor, you didn’t finish yours?”

Victor gives her his saddest puppy dogs eyes, “I’m sorry, Professor Yuuko, but I didn’t. I wanted it to be perfect to present it to you, but I lost the track of time.”

Yuuri snorts but covers it up with a fake cough.

“Are you alright, Yuuri?” Victor asks, and he’s actually concerned.

“I’m fine,” Yuuri croaks.

“Oh, well that’s alright,” Yuuko says to Victor, smiling sweetly. “It would have been hard to award you points if you did win anyway since you’re from a different school.” She laughs at her own joke, and Victor humors her.  

“Now for Yuuri! Yours looks interesting.” The large snowflake floats before Yuuko. “Care to tell us what all these pictures are about?”

He kind of wishes he didn’t have to, but Victor nods encouragingly and gives him a thumbs up.

“We—well these pictures are all my happiest memories, so far anyway.” Yuuri wants to hide under a rock and never come back out. It sounds so cheesy when he says it out loud.

“Yuuri, that’s beautiful.” Yuuko is absolutely mesmerized. “I’ve picked the winner. Five points to Gryffindor. Well done, Yuuri.” Yuuko pats him on the back.

Yuuri is surprised to say the least but can’t stop his lips from quirking up.

“And class is dismissed,” Yuuko announces and there’s lots of chairs scraping against the floor as students try to get out as fast as possible.

“I know you helped the others, Yuuri,” Yuuko says before he leaves. “Kind of you to do so.”

“It was nothing, Professor.” Yuuri and Victor bid her goodbye and walk towards the Gryffindor common room.

“I’m a part of one of your happiest memories?” Victor asks slowly.

Yuuri doesn’t know how to respond, but he thinks shrugging it off probably isn’t the best idea. Victor seems surprised yet happy, and Yuuri doesn’t want to upset him in anyway. Besides, he’d be lying if he told Victor meeting him wasn’t a big deal for Yuuri. No, because meeting Victor is a dream come true.

“Of course you are, Victor,” Yuuri resolutely focuses on his shoes as he says this and even in the cold, his cheeks and ears feel hot. “I’ve always wanted to meet you and when I did, you were nice to me. You made me so happy when you said you’d train me in DADA.” Yuuri finally looks up, and Victor’s faces exudes pure joy. It makes butterflies erupt in Yuuri’s stomach because he’s the one to put that expression on Victor’s face. _Him!_ “You believed in me.”

In the light of the dying sun, Victor looks like a young god who’s been out frolicking all day with the wood nymphs. His hair catches the pale sunlight and glows bright. Some of the loose silver strands flutter in the breeze and tangle in his long eyelashes. He pushes them away. His eyes ensnare Yuuri, but Yuuri doesn’t think he wants to escape. Yet… _He’s still on a pedestal I cannot reach._

“Can I see your snowflake, Yuuri?” Victor requests.

“Uh, yeah—yeah sure.” Yuuri hands it to him. It’s almost been an hour since Yuuri cast that spell on the snowflake, but luckily there’s no sign of melting. It will soon, however, and the thought makes Yuuri sad.   

Victor takes the snowflake and balances it on one hand while he holds his wand with the other. He rests the tip of his wand at the center of the snowflake and tendrils of white smoke ghost out and weave in between the patterns before solidifying into ice. Yuuri can tell this is no ordinary magic.

When Victor hands him back the snowflake, their fingers brush and Yuuri feels a pleasant shudder travel through his body. The delicate object is pleasantly cool and not at all freezing in Yuuri’s hands. When Victor smiles, Yuuri’s heart constricts. _I have never seen him smile like that before. It’s almost…shy._

“As long as I’m alive, this snowflake will never melt now.”

Yuuri’s heart loosens and swells. “It’s perfect, Victor.”

_He’s on a pedestal I cannot reach, but I wouldn’t mind trying._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "cincinnus" is curls in Latin and I just shortened it to "cincin"  
> "nix" is snow in Latin and "nivem" is just the accusative of "nix" (you probs didn't want to know that but hey some of you might be wondering why. I also got really lazy with the naming and my Latin is hella rusty whoops)  
> So I have a hc that Minami is into My Little Pony and has a little collection back home and everything, so he names the horses after some of them lol! I also love Minami and Chris' friendship!!!! I don't ship them romantically at all but Chris would be such a nice big bro to Minami and when I think about it I cry!  
> I guess this chp was just that and me wanting to develop more of Yuuri and Viktor's relationship? I also wanted to show how awesome Yuuri is at Charms. But I def want to get into Yuuri's DADA training next and the awesome Triwizard Tournament!  
> Anyway, comments, kudos, [tumblr](http://www.rolling-blunder.tumblr.com) you know the deal!


	8. Winners and Losers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Alright, I’ll enter with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, sorry for disappearing for like over a week but here's a fairly long-ish chapter. I'd like to think I'm picking it up plot wise finally haha! Anyway, enjoy!~

The first thing Leo sees when he enters his Transfiguration class is the head of messy brown hair in the front. It’s not like he was purposefully looking for it. Nope. Not at all.

(Ok, so maybe he was looking for it a little bit.)

What catches his attention next is the empty seat next to the person who Leo was totally not looking for.

 _Just go sit down next to him_ , he thinks to himself as he smooths down his hair. _Do it before you lose the chance yet again!_

He sees one of his classmates make a beeline for that spot, and his muscles jump into action.

“Is—is anyone sitting here?” Leo asks the small Durmstrang boy.

Guang-Hong regards him with large chestnut brown eyes and shakes his head, “No.”

Leo gulps because gosh this boy is so adorable. This close he can make out the faint freckles beneath the permanent flush along his cheeks and the bridge of his nose.

Guang-Hong smiles shyly before he goes back to reading something in the Transfiguration book.

 _Say something otherwise it’s going to be a really awkward hour and a half!_ Leo thinks to himself.

“Uh—hi by the way,” he begins, “My name is Leo. Leo de la Iglesia.”

Guang-Hong looks at him again and at the last second Leo extends his hand.

“Hello, I’m Guang-Hong Ji.” His voice is just as soft as he is, and Leo didn’t expect anything else. When his fingers touch Leo’s hand, he flinches slightly. Leo realizes that it’s because his hands are cold from walking around outside before class.

“Sorry about that,” Leo quickly apologizes and goes to retract his hand. “I should’ve—.”

But Guang-Hong doesn’t let him complete the action. Their hands meet, palm to palm, and Leo feels guilty because he’s leeching the warmth from this small boy and _liking it_.

“It’s ok,” Guang-Hong reassures him with an angelic smile. Leo feels his heart stutter in his chest and his hand goes limp in Guang-Hong’s grasp.

“Alright, class, let’s start today’s lesson,” Minako says as she enters the class, and only then does Leo realize that he should probably let go of Guang-Hong’s hand. But then again, Guang-Hong hasn’t let go either…

Red faced, the two boys face the front again and wait for Minako’s instructions.

Some people find it odd that Minako is not only the Headmistress of Hogwarts but also the Transfiguration professor. Leo had heard from his upperclassmen that Minako didn’t want to conform strictly to one position. While she enjoyed being the Headmistress, there simply wasn’t much to do every day. After her duties as Headmistress were finished, she found herself on more than one occasion just sitting around idly. Minako wasn’t the type of person to warm the cushions on her chair.

When the Transfiguration professor during her second year as Headmistress decided to retire, Minako couldn’t find a replacement and decided to just teach the class herself. A few professors had been against the idea saying Minako couldn’t dedicate equal amount of time to both positios, but Mari and Yuuko were more than supportive of their friend. Minako ended up being not only the youngest person to head Hogwarts but also the first to teach a class a while doing so.

Like Leo, many students admire and respect Minako, even though her Transfiguration class is one of the hardest at Hogwarts.

Currently, Minako stands at the front of the class and pulls out a card box from under a table. It’s covered with black cloth so the students have no idea what’s inside. However, Minako removes the cloth and puts her hand in the box. Her hand goes in deeper and deeper until her entire forearm is inside when the box itself is only about the height of half her forearm.

She retracts her arm and in her hand is a white rabbit with red eyes. The girls in the class coo at the adorable creature and beside Leo, Guang-Hong gasps in delight.

The rabbit sniffs Minako’s hand curiously, and she pets it between its floppy ears.

“Today, we will be transforming these rabbits into black silk top hats,” Minako says as she places the rabbit on the table.

It sits still, looking around, as Minako removes her wand from inside the sleeve of her robes. She aims her wand at the rabbit and with a sharp jerk of her wrist, she says, “ _Cuniculus ad Petasus_.”

The white rabbit turns into a polished black top hat.

Minako takes the top hat and rolls the brim up the length of her arm where her other hand is waiting behind her neck. She catches it and drops it on her head, tilting it to the side. The class claps at her little performance and Minako winks. Leo thinks she’s probably the coolest Headmistress Hogwarts has ever had, but he also knows she is not one to be trifled with. Minako is powerful and dangerous when provoked.

Minako takes off the hat and sets it aside. She then picks up the box and takes it around to each student.

“Each of you will pick a rabbit and do what I just did,” she informs everyone. “Again, the spell is ‘ _Cuniculus ad Petasus_ ’. Now, be very careful how you say it and no fancy twirling of your wands; keep it simple. Also, ‘ _petasus’_ technically isn’t the best word to use for this spell, but it’s what we’ve been dealt with. Try very hard to imagine a top hat and nothing else.”

She stops before Leo and Guang-Hong but continues speaking as they pick their rabbits. “If any of you get this transformation right on the first go, I will be very impressed.”

“Will you give us points if we do?” A student asks from the back.

Minako thinks for a second before responding, “Sure, why not? Ten points to anyone who gets this right on their _first try_.”

The class bustles into action and all around Leo students begin murmuring the spell. Leo himself likes to practice pronouncing the spell correctly then practice how to wave his wand before doing the actual transformation. Once he feels comfortable with his movements and the way the spell feels on his tongue, then only does he begin.

Leo looks over and Guang-Hong is playing with his white rabbit, not at all worried about Minako’s instructions. Minako herself doesn’t seem to mind as she roams the classroom, declaring to each student who’s already said the spell that their transformation has been unsuccessful. Students groan in frustration at their lost points.

Leo stares at his brown rabbit. The rabbit stares back at him. Taking a deep breath, Leo decides to finally get on with it. Guang-Hong is still coddling his rabbit and making kissy faces at it. Leo thinks it’s adorable but a weird part of him is a little jealous of the rabbit too.

 _Focus!_ He thinks. He imagines a black silk top hat but most importantly the rabbit turning into a black silk top hat. Then he says the spell, wrist jerking towards the creature.

“ _Cuniculus ad peatsus_!”

He watches as the rabbit’s ears flatten and it’s features disappear into a shabby broad brimmed hat. Leo frowns because that is certainly not a top hat. Forget about points. He really wanted to impress Guang-Hong.

Leo turns to find Guang-Hong blatantly staring at him while absentmindedly stroking his rabbit. Guang-Hong blushes and turns away at being caught.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to distract you,” Guang-Hong says.

Leo shakes his head and smiles, “You didn’t. Don’t worry. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.”

Guang-Hong offers a small smile back but doesn’t say anything.

“Leo, sorry no points for you,” Minako says from the other side of the class. Leo nods in understanding.

“You—you aren’t going to do the transformation?” He asks Guang-Hong tentatively because he doesn’t want to sound patronizing. Almost the entire class has already attempted the spell at least once except for him.

“Of course I am,” Guang-Hong replies. “It’s today’s lesson after all.” He continues petting the rabbit, but upon closer inspection, Leo realizes he’s not just petting it. Guang-Hong takes the rabbit’s fur between his fingers and _feels_ it.

“Transfiguration is a very precise branch of magic,” he begins as if in a trance, “Unlike Charms, there’s not much room for creativity. You’re given one thing and told to turn it into exactly something else. Because of this reason, you need to be really familiar with the end product. In our case, a black silk top hat.” He looks back at Leo. “Tell me, Leo, have you ever worn a top hat before?”

Leo shakes his head. “No, I’ve only seen it in pictures.”

“Me too, and I’d wager a lot of the students in class haven’t either,” Guang-Hong says. “Even though I have never touched a silk top hat, I still need to familiarize myself with it but in a different way than I would by drawing on a personal experience. This is why I’ve been touching this rabbit. When I close my eyes, it’s easy for me to imagine I’m touching something silky. My sense of touch will make it easier for me to transfigure this rabbit. It will act as a bridge because now I know what the top hat should _feel_ like. The rest just depends on how well I can see the top hat in your mind’s eye. There’s a reason Professor Minako said ‘ _petasus’_ was technically the incorrect term because a petasus is actually that,” Guang-Hong points to Leo’s hat with a low crown and broad brim, “not a top hat.”

Leo stares at him with eyes full of wonder and mouth ajar. Guang-Hong blushes darker and backtracks, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound like a know-it-all!”

“It’s ok!” Leo quickly reassures him. “You really like this subject, don’t you, Guang-Hong?”

Guang-Hong ducks his head and nods shyly.

“Well, that’s good to hear because I would really like your help from time to time,” Leo admits and Guang-Hong looks at him with surprise clear on his face. “If you’re willing to offer it that is.”

“Of course!” Guang-Hong says, nodding enthusiastically with a brilliant smile stretching across his lips.

“Guang-Hong,” Minako interrupts them, standing in front of their desk. “You haven’t attempted the transfiguration yet. Is everything ok?”

“I’m sorry, Professor! Everything is fine,” Guang-Hong says.

“It’s my fault, Professor,” Leo jumps in, and Minako raises a curious eyebrow at him. “I kept asking questions and distracting him.”

Guang-Hong wants to deny it but Minako doesn’t let him, “Well, if you have any questions, I would prefer you ask me and let Guang-Hong do his own work.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Go ahead, Guang-Hong,” Minako says.

The smaller boy nods and clears his throat. “ _Cuniculus ad Petasus_ ,” he says, voice as sharp as his wand movement.

Leo watches, mesmerized, as the white rabbit turns into a black silk top hat, just like Minako’s.

Minako’s eyes light up with joy and she claps, “Well done! That was perfect, Guang-Hong!”

Leo claps with her because that was indeed perfect. The tips of Guang-Hong’s ears turn red and he curls into himself, not knowing how to deal with all the praise and attention. Leo is impressed, beyond so. He can’t believe such a gentle boy, who blushes at the drop of a hat, has the potential to turn him into a fruit fly with a flick of his wrist if he so wished. Leo should be scared at this discovery, but he only finds himself falling deeper for the Durmstrang boy.

“Guang-Hong, you were the only one to successfully get this transformation right on your first try but since you are not from this school, I cannot award you any house points,” Minako says, clasping her hands behind her back.

“That—that’s ok Professor,” Guang-Hong says, fiddling with his wand.

“No, no, I promised a reward and a reward you shall get,” Minako smiles, “You are exempt from doing tonight’s homework.”

Guang-Hong’s eyes widen, and he bows his head, “Thank you.”

“You are welcome.” Minako returns to the front. “We are going to keep practicing this spell until I have fifty black top hats at the end of this period.”

“You totally lucked out. Professor Minako’s homeworks are so hard,” Leo informs him.

“I don’t mind helping you if you’d like,” Guang-Hong offers. Leo wonders if he’s imagining the hope lighting up the smaller boy’s brown eyes.

“Sure,” he says because how can anyone say no to that face? “I’d love your help.”

Guang-Hong positively sparkles. His nose scrunches up cutely and his eyes crinkle at the corners as he smiles nice and wide. Leo feels his heart race again as the blood rushes to his face. He is so smitten.

***

It’s finally the weekend but Yuuri’s lost all hope of relaxing with an excited Victor constantly at his heels. Victor hasn’t sat still since breakfast, and Yuuri already feels drained.

“Are you ready for your first DADA training session, Yuuri?” Victor asks.

 _Oh, that’s right_ , Yuuri thinks. _Victor is training me_. It seems so surreal every time Yuuri thinks about it.

Is Yuuri excited? Yes.

Is he nervous because he doesn’t want a repeat of last DADA class? Also, yes.

Yuuri is so anxious that he feel likes his breakfast is crawling back up his throat.

“Victor, can you please keep it down?” Yuuri pleads. “No one knows about our arrangement, and I don’t want them to tag along. I don’t like it when people watch me.” He fidgets on feet.

“Yuuri, people are always going to be watching you,” Victor says. “You can’t hide from them forever.” When Victor sees Yuuri’s morose expression, he sighs. “Fine, fine, I won’t tell anyone.”         

Yuuri perks up considerably.

“Where do you want to train?” Victor asks.

“I know the perfect spot,” Yuuri says, grabbing his wand and Victor follows suit.

They successfully avoid any of Yuuri’s friends and make their outside. It’s a gloomy Saturday with dark clouds hanging overhead just threatening to spill any moment. Yuuri leads Victor past the vegetable garden and a leafless Whomping Willow to the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

The grassy area is empty, as Yuuri expected, and private. He doubts anyone will come this way.

“Nice spot,” Victor observes as he pulls his hair into a ponytail.

In his navy blue sweater and black jeans, Victor looks younger and more on Yuuri’s level. Yuuri can almost, _almost_ overlook the fact that he’s the most powerful wizard of their time.

Victor catches Yuuri staring and gives him a charming smile. Yuuri’s heart lurches painfully in its chest, but he ignores it and looks away.

Victor claps his hands once, demanding Yuuri’s attention again. “Alright, Yuuri, I will be frank with you. You have the knowledge. You are great at Charms and have many spells under your belt. You are also good at nonverbal spells.” He takes a step closer to Yuuri. “You have the skill to succeed. Why can’t you make it happen?”

Yuuri blinks owlishly at him. _Straight to the point_ , Yuuri thinks. _How very Victor._ “I—I don’t know. I was hoping _you_ could tell me that.”

Victor strokes his chin and regards Yuuri like he’s a puzzle. “Alright, then. Let’s start with the basics. Show me your dueling stance.”

Yuuri does as he’s told. He extends his wand arm and points his toes in an “L” shape while his free arm rests on his lower back, out of the way. Victor starts circling Yuuri like a predator. His bright eyes are narrowed as they scan Yuuri from head to toe. Yuuri feels his ears burn from the scrutinizing gaze, but he doesn’t drop his stance.

He stops behind Yuuri. Yuuri can feel Victor’s breath on the back of his neck as he straightens Yuuri’s back and wand arm. The little hairs on Yuuri’s nape rise in interest but Victor is already moving on. He stops in front of Yuuri, frightfully close. Yuuri is reminded of Victor’s first night in the dormitory as he hovers over Yuuri and tilts his chin higher. He stares up at Victor, eyes wide and cheeks hot even in the chilly weather.

“Chin up,” Victor commands in a low voice, and Yuuri can’t find it within himself to disobey.

“Dueling begins even before either of you say the first spell,” Victor explains as he moves away from Yuuri. “How you hold yourself is very important. I guess that applies not only in dueling but also in life. The worst thing you can do is let your fear show because your opponent will use that against you. Even if you think you can’t win, pretend. I know it’s helped me in the past.”

Yuuri wants to roll his eyes. _Well of course. You’re Victor Nikiforov. Who wouldn’t be intimidated by you and your looks?_

Victor takes his wand and conjures up ice sculptures all around Yuuri. The sculptures are human shaped and in a similar dueling stance as Yuuri’s. They are twelve in total and so clear that Yuuri can see right through them like glass.

“Ok then,” Victor says as he stands outside the circle of sculptures. “You will use twelve different spells to do as much damage to these ice sculptures as possible. For the purpose of this exercise, say the spells out loud so I can hear them. Whenever you’re ready, Yuuri.”

Yuuri nods and glares at the sculpture, pretending it’s a real man. “Bombarda Maxima!”

The sculpture explodes into a thousand pieces with a loud _boom_. Victor is impressed.

“Incendio Tria!” Bright orange flames engulf the next sculpture and melt it to the ground in seconds.

“Alarte Ascendare!” The thirds sculpture shoots high into the air before it comes crashing down and shattering into smithereens.

The rest of the nine ice sculptures meet their demise in similar ways. Yuuri waits for Victor’s verdict.

“Good,” he says laconically. “Now you will duel against me.”

Yuuri begins to sweat. Memories of their last “duel” flashes through his mind and he shakes his head. He has no chance against Victor. They’ve only just begun training! Victor can’t possibly think it’s ok to subject Yuuri to this right away.

“I can’t fucking believe you’re going behind Yakov’s back and training him,” Yuri says, finally emerging from behind a tree.

Yuuri nearly has a heart attack and even Victor seems surprised. “Yurio! What are you doing here?”

“Don’t call me that!” Yuri snarls at Yuuri and storms to Victor.

“How did you find us?” Victor asks, amusement clear in his blue eyes.

“I saw you two sneaking out like a pair of thieves, so I followed you.”

“Please don’t tell anyone about this,” Yuuri begs.

Yuri looks at Yuuri like he doesn’t even belong on the bottom of his shoe. He turns back to Victor. “Train me too. I won’t tell anyone if you train me too.”

Victor thinks for a moment, index finger against his lips. He looks at Yuuri. “I think it would be better if you had a dueling partner. It would be harder for me to see what you’re doing wrong if you always dueled against me. I’d be much more effective from the sidelines. Are you ok with that, Yuuri?”

“That’s fine,” Yuuri says, nodding. Despite Yuri’s foul attitude towards him, Yuuri actually has no qualms about training with the younger boy.

Victor smiles, relieved. “I’m glad to hear that. Let’s get started then. Yurio, go stand over there.” Victor points behind Yuuri.

Yuri glares at Yuuri. “You’re going down, little pig.”

Yuuri smirks, accepting the challenge. _He’s totally underestimating me. I still have three years on him_ , he thinks. Yuuri may not be the best but he’s come far these last few years thanks to his perseverance.

“Wipe that stupid look off your face, fatso,” Yuri growls and bumps his shoulder hard into Yuuri’s as he makes his way past him.

When both Yuuri and Yuri get into position, Victor asks them to bow. They do and the duel begins.

“Yurio hasn’t learned nonverbal spells yet so we’ll refrain from those,” Victor says.

Even though Yuuri knows which spell Yuri is using, the younger boy is still fast and a force to be reckoned with. Yuri is ruthless as he attacks. His spells aren’t as advanced as Yuuri’s (which is expected) but they pack a punch. More than once Yuuri finds himself dodging Yuri’s spells because he can’t think of a counter-spell in time. Yuri wasn’t just tooting his own horn; he really is good.

Victor stands off to the side and says nothing.

Yuuri is getting frustrated because he’s only gotten a few hits on Yuuri while the younger boy has gotten a lot more on him. He has to win against Yuri otherwise Victor won’t bother to train him anymore. Would he himself even bother to train someone who got his ass handed by a fifteen-year-old? He has to prove to Victor he is worthy of Victor’s time.

“ _Ligare cum radices_!”

Yuuri watches in horror as gnarled roots unearth and coil around his feet like vipers. They tug and wrap tighter, winding themselves higher and higher up Yuuri’s legs. He struggles but it’s in vain. The roots don’t let up and he trips. When his hands touch the ground to steady himself, the roots latch onto them as well, until he’s on all fours and unable to even use his wand. He looks up and Yuri is wearing the most triumphant smirk on his face. His left eye gleams from victory as he looks down on Yuuri.

Yuuri is disappointed and angry at himself. His eyes prick with tears but he holds them back. He won’t cry in front of them. He won’t degrade himself more than he already has.

Suddenly, the roots around his arms and legs loosen and retreat back into the earth. Victor offers his hand and Yuuri takes it, feeling full of shame. Victor doesn’t let go of Yuuri’s hand and continues staring at him, but Yuuri can’t meet his eyes.

Victor doesn’t turn away from Yuuri as he speaks to Yuri behind him. “That’s it for today, Yurio. Why don’t you head back inside? Yuuri and I will follow you shortly.”

Yuri clicks his tongue before mumbling a “whatever” and stomping off to the castle.

Victor doesn’t say anything for a while but the awkward silence is suffocating Yuuri.

“I’m sorry I lost,” he finally says.

“Don’t be.”

And the awkward silence is back but it’s Victor who breaks it this time.

“You asked me to help you figure out why you couldn’t succeed at DADA—dueling especially—and I think I’ve got it.”

Yuuri looks up at him like he holds the answer to the universe. “Why can’t I win?”

“It’s because you lack confidence.”

Yuuri deflates like a balloon. That wasn’t the answer he was expecting. “Confidence?”

Victor nods. “Yes, confidence. You have the skill Yuuri but not the confidence to use that skill. You have to believe in yourself and your judgement. You have to believe that the spell you choose is the best spell. You have to go as far as to bet your life on it if it came to that.”

Yuuri opens his mouth but no words come out. Confidence? It’s true he’s never been the most confident person but why does that matter in DADA?

“And my job,” Victor says, clasping Yuuri’s shoulder, “is to make you feel confident in yourself.”

As Yuuri follows Victor back into the castle for dinner he can’t help but think that it’s easier said than done.

***

“What’s up with you?” Phichit asks during dinner as he bumps his shoulder into Yuuri’s in a playful gesture. “You look like you just watched something die and couldn’t do anything to save it.”

“It’s nothing,” Yuuri lies and like always Phichit sees right through it.

“Bullshit! Who do I need to take care of this time? You know I’m not afraid to go back to Azkaban!”

“‘Go back to Azkaban’?” Victor repeats from across Yuuri, horrified.

“He’s kidding,” Yuuri assures Victor and gives Phichit a reprimanding look.

Soon, the rest of Yuuri’s friends also filter into the Great Hall. Yuuri’s surprised but glad to see Minami getting along really well with Chris. He doesn’t know when their friendship bloomed so much but he’s happy it did. Michele is still fussing over Sara and Sara pretends she doesn’t hear him as she converses with Isabella. Emil is asking Georgi for help on his upcoming Potions exam but Georgi’s attention keeps straying over to the Ravenclaw table.

“Georgi, how’s Anya doing?” Phichit asks. “I haven’t seen her in a while.”

“Oh, uh—she’s good,” Georgi says but there’s a hint of tension in his voice. “She wanted to spend some more time with her Ravenclaw friends that’s why you guys haven’t see her lately.”

 _Ah, so that’s why he keeps glancing that way_ , Yuuri thinks. He sees Anya’s characteristic wavy dark brown hair at the Ravenclaw table. She seems to be enjoying herself, laughing heartily at something a guy next to her is saying.

Yuuri catches sight of Yuri and Mila also entering. Yuri, instead of sitting down at the Gryffindor table with Mila, doesn’t even spare anyone a glance as he goes straight for the Slytherin table to sit with none other than Otabek Altin and Seung-gil Lee. Everyone watches as Yuri transforms when talking to Otabek and this is probably the first time Yuuri has ever seen him smile.

“I still don’t know how they became friends,” Victor says and everyone nods dumbly.

“Do you think our little Yurio will be ok all by himself?” Mila asks. “That guy with the thick eyebrows looks like he wants to hex him.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s just how Seung’s face is,” Phichit says.

Emil nods, “I can agree with that statement. I have Potions with him and he looks that way the entire time. It’s hilarious to see Professor Takeshi though. He’s so creeped out by that boy.”

“You have Potions with him?” Phichit screeches like a banshee at poor Emil. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“Oh?” Sara muses, an eyebrow raised in interest. Phichit turns pink as he glares at her but doesn’t say anything.

“Either way, I’m happy Yurio’s opening up to someone,” Victor says. “It’ll be good for him in the long run.”

“Hey, guys,” Leo says, snapping everyone’s attention to him and the small Durmstrang boy standing at his side. “Let me introduce you all to Guang-Hong. Gunag-Hong, this is the gang.”

Guang-Hong offers a shy wave and everyone introduces themselves. They both sit down and Phichit bombards Guang-Hong with questions.

“So how did you and Leo meet?”

Guang-Hong’s already flushed face turns darker and even Leo blushes a little. “We have Transfiguration together,” Guang-Hong replies.  

“So why did you decide to go to Durmstrang?” Phichit continues. “Did all your family go there?”

Guang-Hong shakes his head. “Uh, no. I’m actually a muggleborn.”

“Ohh!”

“I’m a muggleborn too,” Yuuri says with a smile. “And so are Isabella and Emil.”

“As am I,” Mila says proudly.

Guang-Hong relaxes and feels much more at ease.

“I thought Durmstrang didn’t accept muggleborns,” Georgi says to Guang-Hong.

“Well, that was the case in the past but when Headmistress Lilia came, she abolished that silly rule.”

“It’s a good thing too otherwise Durmstrang would have lost a very talented wizard,” Leo says. Guang-Hong and Leo stare at each other and smile gently, completely oblivious to everyone else.

“Aren’t they the cutest?” Phichit whispers to Yuuri. “I’m getting cavities just looking at them.”

Yuuri nods. “Same.”

They really are too sweet. At this rate he could skip dessert and be ok. Yuuri catches Victor staring at him and gives him a tiny smile before the food arrives and everyone digs in.

***

“Why do we always end up hanging out in the Hufflepuff common room?” Sara complains after dinner.

Everyone except Yuri (who’s probably still with Otabek and Seung) are sitting around the cozy hearth as potted ivy plants curl and dangle all around them. Yuuri lies down on the plush yellow rug and is just about ready to drift off because of the warmth in the room and his full stomach. He can almost imagine sleeping on a bed of daffodils when he feels a hand in his hair. His eyes snap open and meet Victor’s smiling upside down ones. He jerks into a sitting position and hopes no one noticed the peculiar event as sleep flees him.

“Because, dear Sara,” Phichit answers, “Hufflepuff is clearly superior if we’re comparing common rooms.”

Sara scoffs and rolls her eyes, “Oh, please.”

“Well, we can’t very well hang out in the Slytherin common room since we’d all freeze to death before we even sat down,” Phichit retorts.  

“He’s got a point there,” Emil says but shuts up and cowers behind Michele when Sara glares at him.

“Are they always like this?” Victor asks Yuuri.

“Yup. It’s hard to believe they’d take a bullet for each other.”

Victor chuckles. “Those are the best kind of friendships.”

Phichit stands up. “Hear ye, hear ye!” Everyone’s side conversations taper off as they get ready to listen to whatever Phichit is about to say. “I have a very important question to ask, which really only applies to the seventh years’.” He stares pointedly at Yuuri, Victor, Chris, Georgi, and Isabella. “Have all of you put your name in the Goblet of Fire? Because you can’t after tomorrow.”

“Isabella and I have,” Georgi says and Isabella nods.

“I have as well,” Chris says.

“I’m waiting to do it with Yuuri,” Victor says when Phichit looks at him.

“Huh?” Yuuri looks at Victor like he’s grown two heads. “Victor, I’m not entering the tournament.”

Now it’s Victor’s turn to look completely flabbergasted. “But why wouldn’t you?"

“Because I don’t want to,” Yuuri argues.

“There has to be something more to it than just that,” Victor surmises. His eyes narrow at Yuuri as he understands. “You don’t think you’re worthy to be a champion.”

Yuuri feels like a fish out of water as he flounders. “I—I just don’t—.”

“Yuuri Katsuki,” Victor interrupts him, “You haven’t even entered and already you have it in your mind that you’re going to get picked. That’s very cocky of you.” Victor’s smile makes Yuuri feel like he’s walking barefoot on glass shards.

 _Wait, what is going on?_ Yuuri thinks because he’s thoroughly confused by Victor’s sudden change in attitude. “That—that’s not what I meant at all.”

“Then there should be nothing holding you back from entering,” Victor says with a self-satisfied gleam in his blue eyes. Yuuri’s just fallen straight into his trap.

“Victor’s right, Yuuri,” Phichit interjects. “You’re only putting your name in. The chance that you’ll get picked will probably be slim. Just do it for fun.”

Yuuri is still hesitant to agree. Why is everyone badgering him so much about this? First his sister and now this lot.

“Yuuri,” Victor’s voice is low yet assertive, “If you don’t enter, then I won’t either. And I was really looking forward to too. Are you really going to be so selfish as to deny me this?” He pouts then and gives Yuuri his trademark puppy dog eyes.

“That,” Yuuri points an accusing finger at Victor, “is not fair. It is underhanded and you should be ashamed of yourself for using such tactics.”

“It’s a good thing I don’t care,” Victor sing-songs and everyone laughs. Yuuri glares at his friends for betraying him.

“Please, Yuuri?” And this time Victor is completely serious. Behind all the jesting, Yuuri can see that Victor really wants him to do this. How can he extinguish the hope in those pretty blue eyes?

 _Can I ever deny this guy anything?_ Yuuri wonders. He sighs in resignation, “Alright, I’ll enter with you.”

After all, what’s the worst that could happen?

Everyone cheers but it’s Victor who Yuuri can’t take his eyes off of. He’s got the toothiest grin on his face and he seems to radiate a glow that rivals the moon outside, the similarity only heightened by the halo of silver hair that’s spilling down his back and over his shoulders. Yuuri has the sudden urge to touch it, to feel with his own fingers if it is as silky as it looks. But luckily Victor saves him from acting on his embarrassing whims as he grabs both of Yuuri’s hands and pulls him to his feet.  

“Let’s go now,” he trills. “Before you worm your way out of it, let’s go put our names in now.”

“I’m not going to worm my way out of it!” Yuuri retorts, offended. He’s given Victor his word after all.

“That’s a great idea, Victor,” Phichit chimes in and gets two pieces of parchment and quills from a table next to him. He hands one of each item to Yuuri and Victor. “Here. Write your names down and then we’ll go put them in the Goblet of Fire.”

They do as they’re told and Yuuri notes that even Victor’s handwriting is as graceful as him.

Since it’s still before curfew, the group easily makes their way to the third floor corridor where the Goblet of Fire is placed in one of the rooms.  

“It’s in the last room on the right,” Chris informs them.  

When they enter the room, someone is already there.

Otabek Altin stares at Yuuri and Victor with his usual expressionless face. Victor smiles at him like the friendly person that he is but Otabek ignores him. Instead, his eyes fall on Guang-Hong who’s still standing at Leo’s side. Guang-Hong waves at him and Otabek’s face softens just a bit. He gives the small boy a curt nod and makes his way out of the room.

“Jesus, does it physically pain that boy to smile?” Sara asks.

“He’s actually not as bad as you think he is,” Guang-Hong defends his friend. “He’s not as free with his emotions as other people are but—but he’s a very kind person.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Victor says while patting Guang-Hong’s arm. H turns back to Yuuri and extends his arm in a sweeping gesture. “Shall we?”

Yuuri nods.

The Goblet of Fire stands raised on a column, dousing the entire room in a frigid blue glow. Its flames flicker viciously and turn brighter the closer Yuuri and Victor approach it as if it senses the potential candidates. Around the goblet is a shimmering, smoky white circle, like a floating moat. It ripples with the breeze in the room but stays steadfastly connected.

“What is that?” Minami asks pointing to the circle.

“That’s an Age Line,” Yuuri tells him, “It’s used in this case to restrain underage students from entering their names in the goblet. It’s extremely powerful and can’t be fooled.”

“Wow,” Minami says in awe.

Yuuri and Victor pass through the Age Line with ease. Victor holds his piece of parchment to the lip of the goblet, ready to drop it in.

He looks at Yuuri. “Together?”

Yuuri mimics Victor’s action. The fire doesn’t touch their hands, doesn’t even feel warm from its close proximity. Yuuri holds Victor’s gaze with a determined one of his own. “Together.”

They drop in their names into the flames.

***

The next evening the whole castle is buzzing with excitement and anticipation. It was last this lively when Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were set to arrive.

Everyone is situated in the Great Hall as they wait for Headmistress Minako to announce the champions for the Triwizard Tournament.

The Goblet of Fire stands at the front, blazing brightly like it can’t hold in the three champion names any longer. Everyone is sitting at their respective house tables for once. Even the foreign students are sitting with their own schools.

The wait isn’t long before Minako stands by the goblet and raises her hands to demand everyone’s attention. The whole hall quiets down and waits for her to speak.

“Now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for, the champions’ selection,” she says. “The Goblet of Fire will choose one student from each of the three schools to participate in the Triwizard Tournament.”

The fire turns a cornflower blue and crackles loudly, spitting out a piece of parchment that’s slightly charred around the edges.

Minako plucks it from midair and smiles, “The champion from the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic is…Victor Nikiforov!”

Yuuri wishes he could say he was surprised but he had no doubt Victor wouldn’t get picked. He’s proud of him. Everyone claps (Yuuri louder than most), and the Beauxbatons students hoot for their champion. Weirdly enough, Yakov frowns. His arms are crossed across his chest and his eyes are tense as he watches his pupil.

Victor offers everyone a polite smile as he walks up to Minako. She congratulates him as he takes the parchment from her hand and stands off to the side. His eyes immediately seek out Yuuri’s and he gives him the same toothy grin from the night before. It’s contagious and Yuuri can’t stop the same grin from invading his own face, despite the ominous gnawing in his stomach.

The hall falls silent again as the fire turns a red so dark it’s almost black. It crackles again and another piece of parchment flies into the air.

“The champion from Durmstrang Institute is…” Minako says she as unfolds the parchment, “Otabek Altin.”

The Durmstrang students stomp their feet and cheer for Otabek as everyone else claps meekly. The pride that is lacking on Otabek’s face is displayed clearly on Yuri’s as he tries his hardest not to give his friend a standing ovation. And unlike Yakov, Lilia’s green eyes blaze like her school has already won the tournament. Otabek takes the parchment from Minako as she congratulates him too. He goes to stand beside Victor and although he’s shorter, he’s no less intimidating.

Victor smiles and extends his hand, and this time Otabek doesn’t ignore him.

“Now for our final champion!” Minako announces and the fire turns scarlet.

 _Why is it scarlet?_ Yuuri thinks before there’s a sound like lightning splintering the sky in half. Many students wince and cover their ears.

The piece of parchment flutters leisurely and all the Hogwarts students wait with bated breath. Finally, Minako takes the parchment and smiles widely.

“The Hogwarts champion is…” she pauses for effect. At the last second she stares right at Yuuri and he feels his stomach drop. “Yuuri Katsuki!”

Yuuri thinks he’s misheard. There’s no way Minako called his name just now. Out of so many other talented students, there’s no way the Goblet of Fire picked him. But everyone stares at him expectantly. Like tunnel vision, his eyes lock with Victor’s. Victor is overjoyed but when he sees Yuuri’s petrified expression, his face falls. 

Yuuri can’t process anything. He thinks he hears someone clap in the distance and everyone soon joins that person. He sits still hoping that if he doesn’t draw attention to himself, people will ignore him and Minako will choose another champion from Hogwarts. But that’s not the case. Minako waits for Yuuri to claim his piece of parchment and simultaneously seal his fate.

Yuuri’s eyes meet Mari’s shocked ones from behind Minako. _That’s right_ , he thinks, _I forgot to tell Mari I entered my name._  

“Yuuri, you have to go up,” Minami insists. When Yuuri doesn’t budge he pulls at his robes to get him to stand up. “Yuuri, go!”

Yuuri finally snaps out of his daze and looks into Minami’s fiery eyes. He may be small but Minami isn’t one to be trifled with.

Yuuri gingerly stands and nearly collapses because his legs have turned to jelly. He regains his strength and slowly makes his way down the center of the Great Hall to Minako.

“How did he get picked to be the champion?” Someone from Yuuri’s own house whispers to their neighbor as Yuuri passes. “I heard he fainted in DADA.”

Yuuri flushes in humiliation but ignores them and raises his head a little higher. The most he can do is pretend like Victor taught him. He takes the dreaded parchment.

“Congratulations, Yuuri,” Minako says sincerely. “We’re counting on you to represent Hogwarts. Make us proud.”

 _No pressure at all_ , he thinks but out loud he mutters, “Thank you, Headmistress,” and goes to the two other champions.

He shakes Otabek’s hand and then Victor’s. It’s not like they haven’t touched before but this is the first time they’re touching as rivals. Victor’s grip is sure and strong. It anchors Yuuri and transfers Victor’s strength right into him. It’s Yuuri’s only reprieve in this hellish turn of events, and Yuuri knows that even though they are rivals now, he can always count on Victor.

“Excellent!” Minako’s voice reverberates through the hall. “We have our three champions but in the end there can only be one victor. Only one will go down in history. Only one will hoist this chalice of champions!” She waves her wand and next to the Goblet of Fire a beautiful silver chalice appears. “The Triwizard Cup!”

Everyone gasps. Some are jealous while others are amazed. The cup itself is made of what looks like glass and shines so brilliantly that Yuuri’s eyes hurt. It’s an impressive trophy and one that would look lovely at any school. It’s just hard for Yuuri to imagine it at Hogwarts. But for everyone’s sake he will try because for better or for worse, Yuuri is now a champion of the cup.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there are only 2 spells in this chp that are mine: _cuniculus ad peatsus_ ("rabbit to hat") and _ligare cum radices_ ("to tie with roots"). These are all just very rough translations since I am very out of touch with Latin ;-; All the other spells belong to J.K. Rowling!  
>  I can't really think of anything else to announce so ya...  
> Leave your comments, kudos, etc!!! Or come scream at me on my [tumblr](http://www.rolling-blunder.tumblr.com)!


	9. The First Step

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You’re not weak, Yuuri,” Victor continues. “And no one else thinks that either.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, again! So, I know I've been gone for a while but this past semester was rough and then I had writer's block with this fic. I'm sorry but I am back now and hopefully I can write lots more this summer! I will see this fic to the end, worry not!  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!  
> (Note: I made a post on [tumblr](http://rolling-blunder.tumblr.com/post/155171097664/champion-of-the-cup-victor-of-the-heart) with some additional info regarding this au. It's basically everyone's ages/houses so you can keep track of them!)

While the rest of the students make their way back to their dormitories, the champions follow Minako to her office upon her orders. Yakov and Lilia walk beside their respective students’ trying to keep each other as far away as possible now that they are officially rivals even though neither Victor nor Otabek seem to care. Yuuri, who dawdles in the back, is alone and glad for it. He’s had enough notoriety to last him a life time, but he knows it will only get worse.

Everything happened so fast that he hasn’t had time to let it sink in. The further he walks to Minako’s office, the more he feels like he’s being sent to his doom. Yuuri feels Victor’s worried gaze on him multiple times but he ignores it, instead choosing to focus on the shuffling of his own feet and the dirtied hem of his robes. _I should wash them soon,_ he thinks absentmindedly. The thought is so mundane that he finds himself smiling, albetit grimly. Despite so much changing, some things are still going to stay constant.

A hand touches his shoulder and startles him out of his thoughts.

Yuuri turns his head to find Mari walking alongside him. She looks a little winded as if she ran across the castle to catch up with the group, which Yuuri thinks is probably the case. Her hair is pulled loose from her bun and her eyes are still swirling with emotions from the earlier surprise. With her hand still on his shoulder, Mari slows down their pace even more, so they have some privacy from prying ears.

“I thought you weren’t entering your name into the fire?” Mari asks. She doesn’t sound angry, just confused.

Yuuri fiddles with the temple of his glasses, a habit he’s picked up when he’s trying to find the right words to say.

“I—It was an impulsive decision,” he finally says, “I didn’t think I’d get chosen.”

Mari’s eyebrows furrow and her lips pull into a frown because she knows her younger brother is far from impulsive. Between the two of them, Mari has always been the one to make things up as she goes, the reasoning coming _after_ the action has been committed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t have time,” Yuuri mumbles, tucking his chin into his chest in guilt. “I just entered last night.”

Mari doesn’t have time to respond because they all arrive at the eagle gargoyle. Minako utters the password and the eagle spreads its wings to let them enter her office, and everyone does so in a straight line.

Minako’s office is dimly lit but as soon as she steps into the room, more candles flicker to life, lighting the room in a bright, golden glow. It’s the largest office in Hogwarts and for good reason too. There’s all sorts of memorabilia scattered throughout the room but oddly enough it doesn’t look cluttered. The walls are more bookshelves than walls and house Minako’s extensive book collection, as well as books past headmasters and headmistresses have left behind. Yuuri himself has asked Minako to let him borrow many of these books, and Minako loves lending them out (as long as one takes good care of them).

Further into the room is Minako’s large desk and behind that desk a pair of stairs curl up on either side, leading up to balcony behind an arched column, that holds all the late headmasters and headmistresses’ portraits. The balcony faces the perfect direction to view the constellations and contains Minako’s impressive telescope and the large astrolabe Mari gifted her on her most recent birthday. On one side of the room is a fireplace tall enough to fit a person and next to it sits the glowing pensieve. Close to the pensieve is a crystal wine rack filled with the best firewhisky from around the world and crystal glasses to match. Yuuri knows what a connoisseur Minako is when it comes to alcoholic beverages. She loves to drink as Yuuri knows from experience. Whenever she would come over to their house for dinner, she would drink his entire household under the table—well, except his father, but Yuuri’s pretty sure they tied. Watching them get inebriated is hilarious but hauling their heavy bodies to bed is not, so Yuuri always tended to hide a few of the wine bottles during her visits to save everyone the literal and figurative headache.

As much as Yuuri liked everything about Minako’s office, his favorite thing would have to be the golden yew tree on the opposite corner from the door. It’s huge, towering all the way to the vaulted ceiling and spreading its spindly branches to the far reaches of the room while its roots disappear into the floorboards. The trunk is wider than Minako’s desk and hallow in the center with a bench for two inside. The thickest branch hugs close to the adjacent wall and swoops down to the floor before arching up again and creating almost a wave. It’s the perfect branch to lay down on because it molds right into the natural curve of one’s spine. The rest of the branches soar high and intertwine with each other all around the room, and looking at the ceiling feels like looking through a golden cobweb. In the light of the room, the tree shines brightly, and Yuuri can faintly make out everyone’s distorted, swimming figures in the branches.

Yuuri had once asked Minako the significance of the yew tree in his first year at Hogwarts.

“Well, Yuuri,” Minako had said with the patience befitting only a headmistress. “My wand is made of yew wood and this is the exact replica of the tree that my wand was made from. Before I decided to become headmistress of Hogwarts, I wanted to be a wandmaker, and I traveled all over the world to study and learn about the magic behind wands. I was in the Jiangxi province in China when I accidentally broke my wand. I had a spare one but it just didn’t feel the same. At the time, I thought it was a complete coincidence that I came across the yew tree on one of my hikes. But I am sure my broken wand was leading the way the entire time because wands are more sentient than we give them credit for.”

Eleven-year-old Yuuri had been a little freaked out when Minako mentioned that. He did remember the saying, “The wand chooses the witch or wizard” but the fact that his wand could be alive was too farfetched an idea for him to swallow. Minako had hardly even paid any attention to Yuuri’s discomfort. Her eyes had glazed over completely by then as she relived that memory once again.

“My wand seemed to vibrate with an energy I didn’t know it possessed and when I touched it to the trunk of the tree, it glowed unlike ever before. I had heard rumors that broken wands could be fixed as long as their wand core was still intact—which mine thankfully was. The only problem was that the wood to mend the break had to come from the original tree. _That_ is the challenging part. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack and normally people just settled for an alternative wand rather than spend their entire lives trying to fix the original. I guess I just got lucky. With the original wood and the magic I had learned, I was able to repair my wand and it was even stronger than before. I thought it would be useful to keep the tree with me but it was impossible seeing how big it was and besides, I could tell it was old and I didn’t want to destroy something so sacred. When I came to Hogwarts, this replica was the first thing I put up. It obviously serves no real purpose other than appealing to my aesthetic.”

Yuuri never did ask her then why she gave up wandmaking to become a headmistress because he didn’t want to shatter the good atmosphere they had created. He had heard rumors that right before Minako came to Hogwarts, her patronus had changed from a dun mare to a thestral. Even young Yuuri was smart enough to know what _that_ meant. He’d tried to worm more information out of Mari, seeing how she and Minako were best friends, but she kept her lips sealed. “It’s not my secret to tell,” she’d told him and shooed him away.

Yuuri notices that Victor and even the grim faced Otabek stare around the office in wonder. Yakov and Lilia seem unfazed, and Yuuri surmises that they’ve probably been here before, no doubt to discuss the tournament.

Speaking of the tournament—

“Congratulations to the chosen champions,” Minako says and gives the three students a warm smile. Yuuri doesn’t smile back.

“Before we start going more in depth about the Triwizard Tournarment,” Minako continues, “I will wait for Hisashi Morooka, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation at the Ministry of Magic, to join us. He contributed a lot to the planning of this tournament and will also be one of the judges, beside myself, Headmistress Lilia and Headmaster Yakov.”

As soon as Minako finishes speaking, the fireplace turns a vibrant green and out steps Hisashi Morooka, a man in his late forties with perpetually messy hair and big teeth. Flecks of Floo powder still cling to his robes, but he makes no move to brush them away.

“Ask and you shall receive,” Minako jokes, extending her hand for Morooka to take.

“Minako,” Morooka says kindly and kisses the back of Minako’s hand. “I apologize for not being there for the choosing, but I was swamped with work back at the Ministry.”

“No matter,” Minako assures him, “I can introduce you to the champions now.”

 _Great_ , Yuuri thinks, palms sweating.

“The Beauxbatons champion is none other than Victor Nikiforov,” Minako says, and Morooka’s smile only grows.

“Victor!” He shakes Victor’s hand enthusiastically while the younger smiles politely. “Why am I not surprised?”

“It was merely chance, sir,” Victor supplies humbly.

“The Goblet only picks the worthy, my boy, remember that,” Morooka confesses before shifting his attention to Yakov. He claps the headmaster on the back and hugs him. “Yakov! It’s been a while, old friend.”

“Indeed.” And it’s the first time Yuuri has seen Yakov smile, if only a little. It takes years off his age, even with the current balding situation. 

“We have a lot of catching up to do,” Morooka says. “You better be prepared.”

“I can’t wait.” Yakov’s tone is dry but his expression is otherwise.

Minako herds Morooka to Otabek and Lilia. “This is Otabek Altin, the champion from Durmstrang.”

“Otabek Altin,” he repeats, shaking his hand with the same vigor as he did Victor’s. “I’ve seen you compete in the Defense Against the Dark Arts World Championships. I’m excited to see how you do in this tournament.”

Otabek’s face betrays nothing. It’s a perfect mask of neutrality, and Yuuri is envious of it. “Thank you.”

“Lilia, how are you?” Morooka kisses her hand. “Still as beautiful as ever, I see.”

“I am quite well, and it looks like you are too with your silver tongue still very much intact,” Lilia quips but her green eyes sparkle with amusement.

“Honeyed words are all a man has at the Ministry,” Morooka jests.

“That statement rings truer than I would like to admit,” Minako injects. “Let me introduce you to our final champion: Yuuri Katsuki.”

Morooka finally turns his dark gaze upon Yuuri, seizing him up and wondering what’s so _worthy_ about him.

“I don’t believe we have met before,” he says, voice genuine and soft as if he’s speaking to a spooked horse.

He extends his hand, and Yuuri quickly wipes his palm on his robes before grasping it. Regardless, it’s still clammy and Yuuri grimaces. Morooka doesn’t seem to mind and shakes it firmly.   

“I’ve only met one Katsuki,” his eyes briefly flicker to Mari, who’s standing beside Yuuri, “But it’s nice to meet the other.” He leans in closer, voice dropping low, and they look like a pair of conspirators. “As a Hogwarts alumnus, I’m secretly rooting for you, so do our school proud.” He winks, grinning, and lets Yuuri’s hand fall.

The knots in Yuuri’s stomach don’t loosen up; they only tighten.

“I’ll try my best,” he croaks out, and Morooka looks pleased by that answer.

“That’s the spirit!”

“Shall we get down to business then?” Minako asks, motioning to the couches behind everyone.

Morooka nods and everyone shuffles to take a seat. Yuuri sits next to the arm of one of the couches. He sees Victor moving to sit beside him and stiffens, but Yakov grabs his arm and leads him to a different seat. Mari takes the place beside Yuuri instead and pats his knee.

“I am sure Headmistress Minako has told you the basics so this will be brief,” Morooka begins, “But I would still like to emphasize the contract that you are all now bound to. Danger does lie in this tournament, but you all have been chosen and there is no backing out of it.” His eyes are hard as they rake over each champion. “This will not be easy. The three tasks are not only meant to test you physically but mentally and emotionally as well. Your extensive academic knowledge will help you but if you rely on just that, you will not win. This tournament is meant to push you, to test your limits, to see how creatively you overcome the challenges presented to you.”

Yuuri gulps and feels like he’s melting against the couch. Victor shoots a worried glance his way, and Yuuri looks away, missing the hurt flashing across Victor’s face.

“Although I cannot tell you what the three tasks are,” Morooka continues, “Know that they will operate on a point based system. The more points you acquire in one, the more beneficial it will be for you in the next task. The points will be decided by the judges. I cannot say more on the matter right now but later on it will become clearer. I can tell you the dates of the tasks though. The first task will take place on November twenty-fourth, the second on February twenty-fourth, and the third on June twenty-fourth. They may seem far apart but trust me, you will need time to recover and plan for the subsequent task. During each task, you are of course on your own. Professors and other students are forbidden to help you. You are only allowed your wand. If we suspect anyone of you of cheating, you will be disqualified immediately.”

Morooka looks at Minako. “Have you already told them about the prizes?”

“I have only shown them the Triwizard Cup.”

“Well,” Morooka turns his attention back to the three students, “Since you cannot keep that glorious trophy, the winner will also be awarded a five thousand galleon monetary award.”

For the first time, Yuuri sees Otabek’s face change. It’s subtle and anyone could have missed it if they were only paying attention to Morooka. But Yuuri notices how his dark brown eyes widen and sparkle with interest under the candlelight. He sits up just a little straighter, and Yuuri can almost picture his ears perking up.

“Have I covered everything, Minako?” Morooka asks.

“You forgot to mention the interviews for the Daily Prophet.”

Yuuri feels his stomach sink lower.

Morooka snaps his fingers together. “Oh, that’s right! The three champions will be interviewed by someone from the Daily Prophet sometime before the first task. It will be a very basic interview just so the rest of the wizarding society can get to know the competitors better, so no need to worry too much about it. I do not know the exact date of this interview, but I will make sure you all get plenty of time to prepare beforehand if you need to do so.”

He turns to Minako. “ _Now_ have I covered everything?”

“Yes,” Minako says, standing up and everyone follows her example.

Yuuri’s glad this meeting is over. Even though he knows he won’t be getting any sleep tonight, he still wants to escape to his dormitory and curl up under the covers.

“For now, the champions are free to retire to their houses,” Minako says. “If the rest of you want to join me for some firewhisky, I will be more than happy to oblige.” 

Morooka grins, showcasing all his white teeth. “That sounds splendid, Minako! Let’s hope that by the end of the night I don’t wipe your entire stash of alcohol clean.”

“You underestimate the size of my stash.” Minako smiles slyly, and Morooka laughs heartily.  

“I’m heading back to the dormitory,” Yuuri whispers to Mari while Morooka convinces the adults present to stay with them. Otabek has already fled.

“Sure, Yuuri,” Mari says, smiling. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She ruffles his hair.

Yuuri makes a beeline for the exit when he sees Victor making his way to him. Once again, Victor doesn’t get a chance to catch up because Yakov intercepts him. Yuuri is already through the door when he hears Yakov say he’ll join everyone after he’s done talking to Victor. Morooka jokes that Yakov is already discussing battle strategies with his pupil, and Lilia snorts. Yuuri ignores the forlorn expression on Victor’s face as he stares after him but most importantly, Yuuri ignores the stabbing guilt he feels for avoiding him.

***

Yakov rounds on Victor once they’re both out of earshot.

“What are you doing, Victor?” He hisses and his face is puce, ready to burst, even along the fine wrinkles. Victor takes a step back. Yakov never calls him “Victor” unless he’s livid.

“What do you mean?” Victor asks.

“Don’t play dumb. It doesn’t suit you,” Yakov snaps. “I thought we discussed this. The only reason I allowed you to come to Hogwarts with us was so you wouldn’t enter in the tournament.” 

Victor is silent for a moment before he responds. “I didn’t promise you anything.”

“Yes, but _I_ promised your mother I’d keep you safe,” Yakov says. He deflates, shoulders sagging as he rubs at his temples with closed eyes. He looks imploringly at his student. “Vitya, if something were to happen to you—”

“Nothing will happen to me,” Victor assures him. “You can’t keep me from doing things and neither can mother. I am old enough to make my own decisions.”

Yakov sighs. He feels like he’s aged years since dinnertime. “I know that. But this tournament is dangerous. In the past, students have _died_ —”

Victor interrupts him, “Do you not think I can win? Do you not think I am capable?”

Yakov feels his blood pressure rising. His voice is hard as he responds, “If I didn’t think you were capable, I wouldn’t have spent all my time honing your abilities! I’ve known you were capable since the day you were born.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Victor asks with furrowed eyebrows. His normally bright blue eyes are dulled with hurt.

 _I owe him the truth_ , Yakov thinks. Victor is the closest thing Yakov has to a child, and he hates seeing him upset. He feels even worse when it’s because of him.

“Your mother didn’t want you to even come with us to Hogwarts. When she found out that the Triwizard Tournament was taking place here this year, she made me promise that I wouldn’t take you. But when you found out, you got so excited. I hadn’t seen you that happy in a long time, and I thought what’s the harm as long as you don’t compete? I thought the only reason your mother didn’t want you to come was so you wouldn’t participate. That’s why I made it very clear that I didn’t want you to submit your name. But you went and disobeyed me and now you’re chosen.”

“Why didn’t mother want me to come to Hogwarts?” Victor asks.

“I don’t know,” Yakov answers truthfully, “She didn’t tell me.”

“I know I went against you, but you won’t abandon me, right? You will support me?” His voice is small, fragile as glass, and Yakov is suddenly reminded of four-year-old Victor asking him why his father was lying in a casket while his mother cried beside his body.

And how can Yakov not support this boy, especially when Victor’s eyes swirl with such hope, such desperation? Victor has always sought him out for strength and encouragement, and Yakov is not suddenly going to stop providing it now. He will deal with Verushka Nikiforov’s wrath when the time comes.

“Of course I will,” Yakov says.

Victor beams, smile like the first glimmer of sunlight after a terrible rainstorm. He bends down to hug Yakov, breathing out a relieved “thank you” in his ear, and kisses his cheek. Yakov just pats him on the back, still unaccustomed to such affection even after all these years.

“I want to know, Vitya,” Yakov says after they’ve pulled apart, “Why did you decide to enter? I know it isn’t for the fame or money. You’re already plenty famous and rich. And it’s not like you want to redeem Beaubaxton’s image. There’s nothing to redeem. We have always been a prestigious school. So, why?”

When Victor doesn’t answer him, Yakov stops beating around the bush.

“Is it because of that boy Yuuri?”

Victor’s gaze flitting away is the only answer Yakov needs.

“I don’t know why you have this sudden interest in him, but he’s your rival now,” Yakov reminds him. “I’d watch be careful of how much I interact with him. You don’t want him to use any one of your weaknesses against you.”

“He would never do that!” Victor’s blue eyes crackle like electricity and stun Yakov.

“You can never be too safe,” Yakov argues. “And while you’re at it, be mindful of that Durmstrang boy too.”

“I know you know his name,” Victor says, “So just use it.”

Yakov ignores him and turns to go back into Minako’s office.

“Just…be careful.”

“Have a good night, Yakov. Don’t drink too much. You’re terribly grouchy when you’re hungover.”

Yakov glares over his shoulder, and Victor’s smirk blooms into an all-out grin. _Well_ , Yakov thinks, _it’s nice to see him smile like that again._

***

Yuuri debates sneaking out to the Great Lake for some fresh air but as he’s walking through the empty hallways, he realizes how bone tired he is. The events of the day are finally taking a toll on his body and weighing his limbs down. Gravity seems to be doing a better job than normal, it seems. He forgoes the idea of a night stroll and heads straight to the Gryffindor common room.

No sooner than entering through the portrait hole, Yuuri is surrounded by his housemates. Of course, it was too much to ask for solitude tonight. They congratulate him and Yuuri thanks them halfheartedly, not even having the energy to muster a smile.

Yuuri’s friends hang back though because they have an inkling of how he’s feeling. They all wear matching expressions of worry. It’s the most pronounced on Phichit’s face.

When Yuuri finally breaks away from the cluster of students, Phichit approaches him, worrying his bottom lip aggressively between his teeth, and Yuuri wants to tell him to stop before he breaks the delicate skin and complains about it the next day during breakfast.

“I would congratulate you, but that’s probably not what you want to hear right now,” Phichit says.

“No, I really don’t,” Yuuri admits.  

“Yuuri, I’m sorry—,” Phichit begins, guilt-ridden, but Yuuri cuts him off.

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” He looks them all in the eye. “Any of you. But I really want to be alone right now.” He walks towards the boy’s dormitory and they let him. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

“We’ll figure this out together, Yuuri,” Phichit says confidently from behind him. “All of us. We’ll help you in any way we can.”

Yuuri gives them a small smile over his shoulder and escapes to his shared room. As Yuuri changes quickly, he’s grateful that Minami doesn’t follow him right away. Although Minami respects Yuuri’s privacy and space, Yuuri could do without the questioning eyes as younger boy bites the inside of his cheek to keep the words from spilling out.

As Yuuri closes his bedpost drapes and buries himself under his covers, he realizes that for the next few days his friends are going to be stepping around him as if they were walking on a minefield. He knows that despite what just transpired downstairs, they are going to continue feeling guilty for pressuring him into entering.

Yuuri’s mind drifts to Victor. If the glances he kept giving Yuuri in Minako’s office were anything to go by, it was safe to say that Victor feels most responsible for this turn of events. Yuuri hates himself for thinking this, but a part of him blames Victor, even though there was no way he could have manipulated the Goblet of Fire into spitting out Yuuri’s name. He is a powerful wizard, but he is not _that_ powerful (nor is he that conniving).

Yuuri knows he is being immature and unreasonable, but he can’t bring himself to stop. Now that he’s had time to stop and reflect, he isn’t feeling as relieved as he did in the beginning about Victor competing alongside him. Initially, he had thought that Victor would help him but now he is not so sure. They are rivals now after all. Victor would be daft to aid him when the stakes are so high. Yakov probably advised against it too when he was speaking to him after Yuuri left. They probably won’t even spend that much time together anymore since Yuuri assumes Victor will want to train with Yakov.  

He hugs a pillow tighter to his chest, wondering why there’s a sudden ache in his chest at the thought of possibly losing Victor’s companionship. Even now, he cannot be angry with Victor. It’s only been a week but Yuuri has gotten used to the older boy’s random questions, twinkling eyes and airy laugh.  

When Yuuri hears the door to the dormitory open, he thinks Minami’s finally come to sleep. But the footsteps are distinctly different from Minami’s, quieter like a jungle cat’s, and Yuuri knows Victor has returned.

He holds his breath, lying as still as possible, when he sees Victor’s figure through the cracks in his drapes.

Victor just stands in front of Yuuri’s bed, hand raised as if to part the fabric and check if Yuuri is still awake. Yuuri thinks (and secretly hopes) Victor might just do it. But eventually, the other boy thinks better of it and settles down into his own bed, extinguishing the candle and submerging their half of the room in darkness.

Yuuri stays awake for what feels like hours. Sometime during the night, Minami finally comes in and his light snores are immediately filling the stifling air. Yuuri hears nothing from Victor’s side; no rustling of the covers, no deep breathing, no mumbling in Russian. He wonders if Victor is also having trouble sleeping and almost pulls back the drapes once or twice to check.

But sleep is persistent and soon Yuuri succumbs to her wishes. In his semiconscious state, he doesn’t know if he imagined hearing his name sighed sadly or not.

***

Yuuri sleeps fitfully and wakes up even before the sun. His hair is matted to his forehead and his skin is sticky with perspiration. He wonders what he dreamed of last night to be in such a state now but nothing jumps out at him.

When he checks Victor’s bed, his drapes are half open, face turned away from Yuuri. His body raises and falls in time with his breaths and every so often, his fingers twitch as if trying to grasp something.

Yuuri slips out as quietly as possible because while Minami can sleep through a storm, Victor can wake at the drop of a quill pen as Yuuri has discovered during his short stay. He showers quickly, even though he would prefer to stand under the spray of the warm water for longer. The tension ebbs from his shoulders, dripping off from his skin and into the drain, and by the time he’s dressed into a fresh pair of clothes, he feels reborn. It’s still early enough that Yuuri doesn’t run into anyone as he decides to skip breakfast in the Great Hall in favor of sneaking into the kitchens.

Since students aren’t allowed in the kitchens, getting in is hard but not impossible. During his second year, Phichit had found a secret passageway close to the Hufflepuff common room that conveniently led directly to the large pantry in the kitchens. Since then, they’ve all snuck in one time or another for a midnight snack or binge eating their worries after exams. Yuuri still remembers the day Phichit and Sara smuggled in a chocolate fountain for his seventeenth birthday. They all had spent the entire night daring each other into dipping various foods into the chocolate and eating them. Even though it was his birthday, Yuuri had still been dared into eating a chocolate dipped pickle, and he had never had anything more disgusting in his life. He exacted his revenge though when he forced Phichit to eat a chocolate dipped onion.

Soon, Yuuri carefully pushes aside the spice rack and steps into the dim pantry.

“Lumos,” he whispers and a halo of pale blue light erupts at the tip of his wand.

As he’s searching for something dry and easy to conceal in his robes, the pantry door creaks open. Yuuri’s muscles lock in the action of rummaging. There’s no way he can hide now. He gulps and slowly turns to face the house-elf that’s caught him with his hand in the cookie jar.

He hasn’t seen her in a while, but Yuuri will recognize that floral lilac headband anywhere. His body sags in relief.

“Yuuri, what are you doing here?” The house-elf quickly closes the door behind her and snaps her fingers. Yuuri flinches as the bright light floods the pantry.

Luli’s eyes are the color of the rich earth after a monsoon and almost the size of tennis balls. She’s wearing her usual checkered dishtowel-dress and her feet are socked since the weather is getting steadily colder. Her nose is straight and pointy and red at the tip, much like her ears, which are pierced and adorned with purple flower studs. (Luli really loves flowers and the color purple as Yuuri has found out.) She’s the youngest house-elf employed at Hogwarts and Yuuri’s favorite.

“Luli!” Yuuri says, “It’s so good to see you! How are you?”

“I am alright, Yuuri, but do not try to change the subject,” Luli chastises and even though she barely reaches Yuuri’s waist, he still grimaces. “What are you doing here?”

“I, uh, wanted to grab breakfast to eat by the lake,” he says truthfully.  

“You are not eating with your friends in the Great Hall?” Luli asks.

Yuuri looks away, “No, I kinda wanted to eat by myself today.”

Luli’s large eyes bore into the side of Yuuri’s face. “Is it because of what happened yesterday? Because you got chosen as a champion in the Triwizard Tournament?”

“So you’ve heard, huh?”

“News travels fast amongst the house-elves,” Luli admits. “And judging by the look on your face, I am guessing you are not happy about it?”

Yuuri laughs drily. “You could say that.”

“Personally, I cannot think of a better person to represent Hogwarts. You may not see it right now, but I am sure there is a reason you were chosen,” Luli says with a smile. “Fate works in the most mysterious of ways as I have figured out myself over the years.”

 “I wish Fate would take my feelings and suggestions into account too once in a while,” Yuuri grumbles.

Luli laughs, squeaky and high-pitched, reminding Yuuri of a cockatoo.

“Wait, right here,” she says, “I will bring you something that will cheer you right up.”

Luli snaps her bony fingers and disappears in a thin cloud of smoke.  

A few minutes later, Luli reappears with a paper bag in hand. She gives it to Yuuri and he peeks inside. It’s filled with his favorites, and it looks like there’s lunch in there too.

“What’s in the thermos?” He asks.

“Hot chocolate,” Luli says, “To keep you warm since it is cold outside.”

“Thank you, Luli,” Yuuri says as sincerely as possible. He is glad to have her as a friend.

“You are welcome, Yuuri,” she replies. “Why don’t you come by here for dinner too? I will have a surprise for you.” Her eyes twinkle.

Yuuri grins, having an inkling of what the _surprise_ will be. “Sure thing!”

“Now get going,” she ushers him back towards the spice rack. “I still have to cook for hundreds of hungry and most probably still sleepy students.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll see you later,” Yuuri says as he pushes aside the rack. “Have a good day.”

“You too, Yuuri,” Luli says and waves goodbye.

***

No one comes looking for Yuuri by the Black Lake, for which he is grateful.

He ends up skipping Charms and Potions since he is so busy brooding and feeding the Giant Squid his toast, something Minami had suggested to everyone a few years back.

“Sorry, Aka-chan, I’m all out now,” Yuuri says when the large tentacles wiggle for more food.

After a few more seconds of wiggling, the squid seems to get the message as it submerges back into the lake. Almost immediately though, a tentacle reaches out to Yuuri and places a large conch shell by his feet. It’s beautiful and pale pink, sparkling in the morning sun; it’s a thank you.

“You’re welcome, buddy,” Yuuri says, picking up the shell. “I just wish I could feed you more. Next time I’ll be sure to bring extra toast.”

Aka-chan seems satisfied with the answer and leaves Yuuri be.

Yuuri falls onto his back and looks up at the clouds, wondering not for the first time what it would be like to touch them. He doesn’t get to fantasize long before someone yells his name from behind.

“Yuuri Katsuki, how dare you skip class?”

Yuuri bolts upright and curses. He turns around as slowly as possible and sees Mari storming towards him, wearing the most murderous expression ever. The only time she had looked this mad was when Yuuri was ten and had stolen her broomstick to fly around the hills near their house. He had nearly ended up with a broken foot, but facing Mari’s wrath had been much worse.

“You’re lucky Yuuko and Takeshi are good friends of mine because they’re not giving you detention. If you had skipped my class though, detention would’ve been the least of your worries,” Mari barks, face an angry red.

Yuuri thinks Mari is over reacting. So, he skipped two classes. Big deal. He tells her so.

“It is a big deal, Yuuri,” Mari stresses, sitting down next to her brother, “You are representing Hogwarts now whether you like it or not. You can’t act like a delinquent and tarnish the school’s name.”

Yuuri hugs his knees to his chest, burying his face in them. “I didn’t ask for any of this.”

“No, you didn’t,” Mari says, “But you’ve been given it anyway, and now you have a responsibility to be the best you can be. And that isn’t going to happen if you’re constantly sulking by the lake.” Mari pauses. “Yuuri, the future tasks—they’re meant to challenge you, to push you physically _and_ mentally. If from the beginning you think you can’t do it, then you’ve already lost. Have a little more faith in yourself. And I’ve told you from the beginning that I’ll support you no matter what.” She ruffles his hair.

“It’s not just about getting picked. It’s also about—,” he takes a deep breath, “We have all the same classes together, but I don’t think I can see him yet,” he finally confesses. “It’s too awkward and we’re… _rivals_ now.” Saying the word out loud puts a bitter taste in Yuuri’s mouth.

Mari is silent as she processes the words. Yuuri peeks sideways at her and sees her face flood with understanding. He also sees her roll her eyes and mouth the word “teenagers”. Yuuri’s mood darkens. _Like she wasn’t one before_ , he thinks sullenly. _Granted, it’s been a very,_ very, _long time._

“You’re only making it awkward by avoiding Victor,” Mari says. “Just talk to him. Did you know he was looking like a lost puppy without you there during breakfast? I can’t imagine how he must’ve been during his classes.”

“I’m sure he was fine,” Yuuri says, resting his chin on his knees. “He has no trouble attracting people.”

“True,” Mari hums, “But that doesn’t mean that’s the company he enjoys. Also, who says just because you’re rivals that you can’t still be friends? The whole point of this tournament is to build good relationships between the different wizarding schools. Do you think it would be possible otherwise when we have no interaction with the other schools whatsoever?”

Yuuri keeps quiet.

Mari sighs exasperatedly, “Seriously, Yuuri, you think way too much about the most trivial things and then stress yourself out for no reason.” She stands up and dusts the sand off her robes. “My break time is over, and I have to get back to my class. If you really want to, you can take the rest of today off to mull over what I’ve said. I’ll ask Sir Machaon to write you a note saying you weren’t feeling well, so you can present it to your professors the next time you see them. Starting tomorrow, though, I want you to attend all your classes.” Yuuri opens his mouth to complain, but Mari doesn’t let him. “ _No excuses_.”

“Fine,” Yuuri mumbles.

“Good,” Mari says. “If you get bored, you’re free to hang out in my office. The password is—”

“Curtis Butterfield, yeah, yeah,” Yuuri interrupts her. “I know he’s your favorite quidditch player and all, but you’ve literally had that same password for years, Mari. By now, you may as well not even have one.”

“Oh, whatever!” Mari kicks a pebble at Yuuri, who deflects it easily with a spell. “Did you know that one of the students from Beauxbatons looks _exactly_ like a young Curtis Butterfield? I did a double take when I first noticed a few days ago.”

 Yuuri wracks his brain trying to think of which student Mari is talking about.

His eyes widen as he pieces together the information. Shaggy blond hair. Bright green eyes. A sharp, straight nose and a full lower lip.

“You think Yuri Plisetsky looks like Curtis Butterfield?” Yuuri exclaims. He thinks of the countless posters of the famous quidditch player in Mari’s room and admits that Yuri does resemble him a little.

“His name is Yuuri too?” Mari asks with furrowed eyebrows. “What a coincidence. But yes, I do think that. I may even ask him if he’s related to him.” There’s a twinkle in her dark eyes as she turns the idea over in her head. “Imagine if he is! I would be talking to an heir of Curtis Butterfield!” She squeals.

Yuuri feels sick witnessing his older sister’s gross fanaticism. “Didn’t you say you had a class to teach?”

Mari curses and almost trips over some rocks in her haste to get back. Yuuri snickers until the same pebble that he had dodged just minutes earlier hits him on the head.

“Remember what I told you!” Mari says, smirking over her shoulder and soon she’s gone.

***

Yuuri spends the whole day outside. At one point during the evening, he finds himself at the same grassy clearing where he had his first training session with Victor. He flees from the scene immediately. The memory of losing against Yuri is still too fresh a wound.

Instead, he ends up wandering around the pumpkin patch that’s behind Yuuko and Takeshi’s cabin, knowing that the husband and wife are not home. Subconsciously, Yuuri thinks it’s because Halloween is in a few days. Every year, Yuuri and his friends would pick a pumpkin from this very patch and hold a competition on who could carve the best pumpkin without using magic. Georgi is still the undefeated champion with the spookiest creations Yuuri has ever seen.

He absentmindedly knocks on some pumpkins, enjoying the dull sound that fills the air. Some are so huge that Yuuri could easily fit inside them. Yuuri knows the larger ones are Takeshi’s most prized possessions. He has spent years creating and perfecting potions that would help grow them to this size.

Yuuri leans back against one, enjoying the cold breeze when he hears the back door of the cabin open.

He watches Axel, with her trademark pigtails and purple sweater, squeal in excitement before she turns back around to yell at her sisters. “Guys, Yuuri is here!”

The two identical faces pop up behind Axel and the triplets run down to greet Yuuri. The six-year-olds crash into him, wrapping their chubby arms around his legs. He laughs and hugs them back.

“Hey! What are you guys doing here? I thought you were still at your grandparents’ place,” Yuuri says.

“We were,” Axel says.

“But grandma and grandpa dropped us off this morning,” Lutz continues.

“When we heard you got selected to participate in the Triwizard Tournament,” Loop finishes.

“We came back to congratulate you, Yuuri,” the triplets sing simultaneously.

Yuuri plasters on what he hopes is a genuine enough smile. It’s no use explaining to three six-year-olds that this is _not_ what he wants. “Thank you, girls. I’m glad you’re here. I missed seeing your faces.” And he truly did.

When Yuuko and Takeshi get too busy with teaching (and in this case, accommodating for other schools), they usually send the girls to stay at Takeshi’s parents’ house for a few days until things simmer down at the castle.

He takes the closest triplet, Loop’s, pink cheeks between his fingers and squeezes them affectionately until she giggles. He is always still so surprised how much the three have grown. He remembers holding them when they were barely a day old and were smaller than the size of his forearm, and now it seems like they’re shooting up every day.

“Is it really true that Victor Nikiforov is also a champion?” Lutz asks, starstruck.

Yuuri’s smile wavers. “He is.”

“You must be excited since you’re like his biggest admirer,” Lutz says.

“Yea—yeah.”  

Axel grabs his hand. “Can you please introduce us?” She pleads. “I know Mom won’t do it.”

“Yeah, please?” The other two join in, and they all give him their best puppy dog face, which Yuuri is weak for.

He sighs, giving in. “I’ll see what I can do.”

They cheer. “Thanks, Yuuri! Now come play Exploding Snap with us!”

They drag him to the cabin, and he nearly singes his eyebrows off when the cards spontaneously combust as they play Go Fish. When Yuuri sees Yuuko and Takeshi make their way down from the castle, he escapes through the pumpkin patch and realizes too late that he should have told the triplets to keep quiet about his visit. He is supposed to be “sick” after all.

***

 “I am sure you had some idea of what the ‘surprise’ was going to be,” Luli says as Yuuri digs into his bowl of katsudon in the kitchens’ pantry.

“A little,” Yuuri says around a mouthful of rice and pork. He swallows. “Thank you so much for making this for me, Luli. It’s just what I needed.”

Luli beams. “You are welcome, Yuuri! Now, I will make this dish for you before every task!”

Yuuri grins. “I would love that!”

When Yuuri finishes his meal, Luli asks if he wants dessert too, but he turns down her offer. He wants to savor the flavor of the pork cutlets for as long as he can.

He thanks her again and makes his wretched journey back to the dormitory. Halfway there, Yuuri wonders if he can just sleep on Mari’s floor for the night because there’s no way he’s ready for his friends to bombard him with questions about where he was today.

When he makes it back to the common room though, it’s nearly deserted. He checks his watch and thanks his lucky stars that dinner is still going on.

When he’s finally settling into bed, he encounters Minami. 

“Yuuri! Where have you been? Everyone has been worried sick about you the whole day,” he exclaims.

Yuuri feels guilt bubbling in his chest like a toxic spring. He pulls the covers over his head, making it very apparent that he isn’t in the mood to talk.

“I wasn’t feeling well, so I took the day off,” he mumbles.

“Oh,” Minami says, “I hope you’re feeling better now.”

“Yeah,” Yuuri lies. “I just wanna sleep now though.”

“Of course! Sorry to bother you.” He can hear the hurt in Manami’s voice and feels even worse for pushing his sweet underclassman away.

“Wh—where’s Victor?” Yuuri asks tentatively, and his cheeks heat up in shame.

“I think he went to go see Yakov after dinner,” Minami says. “He was looking for you the entire day though.”

“Oh.”

“Well, I know you’re tired, so I’ll let you rest.” Minami closes his drapes. “Goodnight, Yuuri, and sleep well.”  

“Thanks, Kenjirou. Goodnight.”

Yuuri doesn’t think he’ll get much sleep tonight either but as soon as he closes his eyes, he’s off into a dreamless wonderland.

***

Yuuri jerks awake the following morning at the sound of something shattering, which is odd seeing as the floor is heavily carpeted.

When he pushes his drapes aside, Victor is standing by his bed with his hair neatly tied back and uniform wrinkle free. In his hand, he holds a ball of ice that he’s been tossing at the stone wall. It shatters upon impact, but Victor reshapes the sphere before the shards have the time to touch the ground. The loud noise makes Yuuri cringe, and he suspects there’s an ulterior motive to Victor’s actions because it’s just too early in the morning to _play catch with the wall_.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Yuuri! Did I wake you?” Victor asks in a sickeningly sweet voice that doesn’t sound sorry at all.

Yuuri thinks maybe he deserves it, but he would prefer to deal with this _after_ breakfast. His stomach grumbles lowly in agreement.

“No, it’s alright,” Yuri says drily. Only when he puts on his glasses does he realize just how fake Victor’s smile is. “I should be up right now anyway.”

“Glad you agree,” Victor says and grabs Yuuri’s wrist, pulling him along. “Let’s go.”

Yuuri is too surprised to do anything but follow as Victor throws him his jacket.

“What’s this for?” Yuuri holds up the jacket, an eyebrow raised questioningly.

“It’s cold outside,” Victor says like it the most obvious thing in the world.

Yuuri feels his palms sweat. “Why are we going outside?”

“Because we need to talk.” Victor’s eyes are unyielding.

Yuuri panics. “B—but I’m in my pajamas, and I haven’t even brushed my teeth!”

“It’s ok, Yuuri. No one will see you.”

Yuuri finally yanks his wrist from Victor’s grasp. “Victor, wait.”

“If I wait anymore, you’ll run off again,” Victor says, not even bothering to cover up the accusation behind sweet words.

Yuuri takes a deep breath. _Might as well get this over with now_ , he thinks. _There’s no point in dragging it out._

“I won’t run off,” he says adamantly. “Besides, I…really have to use the bathroom first.” His cheeks turn crimson upon the confession, but it’s true; his bladder is bursting.

Victor finally relents, and Yuuri practically sprints to take care of his business.

Yuuri thinks about taking as long as possible, but he already feels bad about avoiding Victor all day yesterday. After splashing cold water on his face, he finally emerges from the bathroom to find Victor stationed outside like a guard.

Victor leads them to the lake and Yuuri is surprised by how well Victor already knows the castle grounds. It took Yuuri months to navigate Hogwarts when he first arrived, and once again he’s reminded of the difference in their aptitudes.

Victor pats the spot next to him, and Yuuri takes it.

In the water, Aka-chan stretches his tentacles, and Yuuri wishes he brought some toast with him.

Victor gapes. “Is—is that a Giant Squid?”

“Yeah,” Yuuri says. “Have you never seen one?”

“No,” Victor replies. “The chateau back in France is surrounded by gardens and fountains, but there’s not a large body of water like this lake.”

Yuuri nods, hugging his knees to his chest. Today is a lot colder and cloudier than yesterday and his thin jacket is doing little to keep the chill out. Beside him, Victor looks completely at ease as each strand of long hair flutters in the breeze like a thread made of quicksilver. 

“But I like it here,” Victor continues. “I never thought I’d get to see this place. But now that I have, Beauxbatons will feel like a completely different planet when I return. Do you ever feel that way sometimes?”

Yuuri knows what’s going on. Victor is laying the groundwork for this inevitable heart-to-heart conversation.  

“During my first year at Hogwarts, I didn’t really have any close friends,” Yuuri begins suddenly. He doesn’t know why he’s starting with this but it just feels right. “There was a girl in many of my classes who noticed this and tried way too hard to make me feel included. I pushed her away once I realized her intentions.”

“Why?” Victor whispers.

“I didn’t want her to think it was bothering me,” Yuuri says. “It felt like she already knew everything about me even though we barely knew each other. I hated it. Then I realized that my family, Professors Yuuko and Takeshi, and even Headmistress Minako never treated me like a weakling. They all believed that I would keep growing as a person, and they never made me do anything I didn’t want to.”

“And are you upset because I have?” Victor questions.

Yuuri shakes his head. “I thought I was, but I’m not.”

“Tell me, what are you upset about then?” Victor presses.

Yuuri doesn’t answer.

“Are you afraid that everyone will see that you truly are a weakling?” Victor guesses. His suspicions are confirmed when Yuuri only buries his face between his legs.

“You’re not weak, Yuuri,” Victor continues. “And no one else thinks that either.”

He pauses. Yuuri sneaks a peek but Victor’s face is unreadable.

“What do you want me to be to you?” He finally asks. Yuuri stares at him, confused. “A teacher?” Yuuri shakes his head. “A brother? A rival?” More head shaking. “A friend?" Victor pauses. "Perhaps a boyfriend? I’ll try my best!”

Yuuri shoots up into the air. He looks at Victor incredulously but sees the other’s blue eyes sparkle with mischief. His thundering heart starts to quiet but there’s also a dull throb. _Victor’s…boyfriend,_ Yuuri thinks and his cheeks heat up at the prospect. _He was only kidding! Trying to lighten the mood! He doesn’t_ really _want that and neither do I._

“Victor, I want you to stay who you are,” Yuuri says outloud. “I’ve always looked up to you and I ignored you because I didn’t want you to see my shortcomings. I—I understand if you don’t want to teach me DADA anymore…”

“Why would I not teach you?” Victor asks like it’s the silliest thing he’s ever heard.

Yuuri’s jaw drops open in surprise. “You still do?”

“Of course, I do. I promised you I would, didn’t I?” Victor smiles, and Yuuri finds himself returning it.

“And I promise that I’ll make it up to you with my dueling,” Yuuri says confidently.

Victor stands, too, and offers Yuuri his hand. “Okay, I won’t let you off easy then. That is how I show I care.”

Yuuri feels like he’s just cut off the dead weight that’s been dragging him down for who knows how long. He shakes Victor’s hand and feels the warmth pass between their palms.

 _When I open up, he meets me where I am_ , Yuuri thinks. _I shouldn’t be afraid to open up more!_

“Come on,” Victor says with a gleam in his eye. “It’s about time I introduced you to my Abraxan horse.”

“Really?” Yuuri breathes in amazement, but Victor simply tugs him along.  

When Yuuri walks into the stables, he stops in his tracks because never has he seen more magnificent creatures. He now knows why Minami is so obsessed with them.

The horses are enjoying their breakfast of single malt whiskey, swishing their tails back and forth in contentment. They acknowledge Yuuri and Victor curiously when they get nearer but don’t make a ruckus, probably because they recognize and trust Victor.

In the very last stall is an Abraxan horse with the curliest and darkest mane in the team. As soon as he sees Victor, he spreads his wings wide, smacking a smaller horse in the face. The smaller one headbutts him but he’s too busy whinnying happily to notice.

Victor breaks out into a bright grin and runs up to what Yuuri has now guessed is his horse. The horse lowers his neck so Victor can wrap his arms around it and nuzzle his cheek into the muzzle.

Victor pats the horse’s side lovingly. “How are you, boy?”

The horse just neighs, tongue lolling out dopily, and Yuuri is suddenly reminded of his poodle, Vicchan.

Victor takes Yuuri’s hand and places it gently on the horse’s muzzle.

“Yuuri, I’d like you to meet Makkachin, and Makkachin, this is Yuuri,” Victor says, smiling.

Yuuri pets Makkachin, enjoying the feel of the silky hairs between his fingers. Makkachin merely leans further into Yuuri’s touch and closes his eyes, snorting softly.

“It’s nice to meet you, Makkachin,” Yuuri says. Victor bites his lip in a futile attempt to keep the smile from invading his entire face.

“He likes you,” Victor tells Yuuri, who gives him a relieved look. “Do you wanna go for a ride?”

Yuuri’s eyes bug out. “What? On him?”

“Who else, silly?” Victor giggles. “Come on, it’ll be fun! And Makkachin _loves_ it.”

Victor is already tying simple reins around Makkachin before Yuuri even agrees. When they’re outside, the horse crouches down so Yuuri and Victor can climb on.

“Hold onto the reins tightly,” Victor says in Yuuri’s ear. “And keep your legs glued to his sides so you don’t fly off.”

Victor inches closer to Yuuri until they’re sitting back-to-chest. Yuuri feels his cheeks burn red as Victor slides his arms under Yuuri’s to also grab a hold of the reins. He’s practically caging Yuuri against his body in this position.  

“Let’s go, Makkachin!” Victor exclaims and in an instant, Yuuri’s heart flies into his throat as Makkachin gallops and flaps his large wings, taking off into the skies.

Victor laughs and whoops, but Yuuri is too busy making sure his stomach doesn’t drop out from under him to utter a sound. He’s glad he didn’t have any breakfast otherwise he’d be vomiting it all over Makkachin’s beautiful mane. He curls further against Victor’s chest and closes his eyes as the cold bites at his face and hands.

“Yuuri,” Victor calls over the sound of the wind. “Open your eyes! You’re missing the view!”

He reluctantly does as he’s told and gasps.

They’re flying over the Black Lake with the castle at their backs and the mountains promising a whole new adventure.

Yuuri laughs hysterically, so in awe. “This is amazing!”

They’re low enough now that one of Makkachin’s hooves grazes the surface of the dark water, disrupting their perfect reflection.

He can hear the smile in Victor’s voice as he speaks. “I told you it would be. You just have to take the first step.”

 _Maybe Victor has a point_ , Yuuri thinks as he lets go of the reins and opens his arms wide.

The clouds part and douse them in the pale morning light, and for the first time, Yuuri feels like he’s soaring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk if you got it from this chapter but I freaking LOVE the relationship between Viktor an Yakov! I have a hc that Viktor's father died when he was p young so ever since then Yakov has become like a father to Viktor. And in the show, they didn't mention Yakov having any biological children, and I really think he's kinda just adopted Viktor?  
> Also, I made up Viktor's mother, Verushka Nikiforov. She kind of has an important role in this fic.  
> And lastly, I hope I clearly conveyed how Yuuri was feeling. Idk, it was very difficult for me because I was also trying to parallel it to the show? It made sense in my head, but I just hope I was able to transfer my thoughts properly onto paper (computer?)  
> Thank you for reading and as always, comments, criticisms, kudos, etc are greatly appreciated! Or you can come say hi on my [tumblr](http://www.rolling-blunder.tumblr.com)!


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